Peirene does it

Booktrust's Claire Shanahan heads to Peirene Press' very hip translated fiction literature salon.

We were met at the door by a young blonde boy with an officious-looking clipboard and pen in hand; he took his role very seriously, asking for our names, ticking us off from his list and telling us to drop our coats upstairs and proceed through to the drinks area. It was the juxtaposition of his youth and the sincerity with which he carried out his assigned task that made him incredibly sweet - and this welcome, both professional and personal, sums up my whole experience at the Peirene Press Literary Salon.

Peirene Press first started publishing a few years ago, curating their list according to themes. Each year Peirene publishes a new series - three books that form a cluster in terms of style or content. The series so far are the Female Voice: Inner Realities; the Male Dilemma: Quests for Intimacy; and the Small Epic: Unravelling Secrets, from which the focus of the evening comes - more on that later. Peirene specialises in contemporary European novellas in English translation, and they are all less than 200 pages, so can be read in the same time it takes to watch a DVD. I really like that equal parring of books with film as a form of entertainment - it's a very simple, optimistic approach to publishing fiction in translation.

At Peirene's helm is Meike (who we interviewed in 2010 - archives ed), the glamorous, charming host of the salon, and at her side is Maddy Pickard, who was lovely company whilst ensuring everyone's glasses were generously filled throughout the evening. To open one's family home on a Saturday night, to a mixed crowd of around 30, made up of personal friends, professional colleagues and complete strangers, is not only brave but completely at one with Meike and Maddy's creative promotion and marketing of Peirene books - check out the nymph's blog

So we moved from bouncer with clipboard to a cold glass of fizz, mingling with other guests throughout the kitchen, living room and garden. It was busy and bustling: people were introducing themselves, saying hello to friends or guests they'd met at previous salons. The crowd is mainly professional literati and friends from Muswell Hill/Crouch End/Upper Holloway (depending on the calibration of your north London compass), but there were also a few students who were completely new to Peirene. I took my boyfriend along who hadn't read the book or known what to expect, and he quickly found people he knew one step removed or common links with other guests, leading to engaging and relaxed chat. We proceeded upstairs for the talk, with Pia Juul, author of The Murder of Halland, longlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2012, which Booktrust manages, and writer and campaigner Melissa Benn. Melissa has written a book called School Wars: The Battle for Britain's Education, which I am now dying to read. The talk was certainly up close and personal, with me sitting knee-to-knee with Pia as she faced the crowd after moving from the stairs outside (I wanted a better view and I got one!) - but the intimate setting and the rapport between the two women meant a frank and humourous conversation about the book and Pia's writing and life in general, with the audience chipping in from time to time. Meike also announced at this point Peirene's support of the Maya Centre, a charity that offers free counselling for women on low or no incomes in their own language, donating 50p from each sold copy of the Peirene No 1 title, Beside the Sea, longlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2011.

Everyone then trucked downstairs for dinner (huge whole cheeses, salads and bread, followed by three delicious cakes, for those of you interested), with more wine. The evening was finished off by Meike's husband Richard kindly offering around a variety of whiskeys from Islay in Scotland, complete with personal anecdotes about holidays on the island and some factual background information about the different types. The whole evening was arranged with detailed precision, but the overall mood was relaxed and friendly.

I recommend you go along to a future Peirene salon, or a coffee morning or their roaming bookstore. And, I implore you, check out their beautiful books, complete with French flaps, designed to be 'affordable, timeless collector items' - I want them all on my bookshelf, but I also have one or two friends in mind who will be receiving a Peirene subscription very soon.