Authors and attendees have been boycotting literary festivals for their sponsorship by Baillie Gifford – and now music festivals are under fire. Charles Hecker and Georgina Godwin explore whether this will do more harm than good, as well as the top stories from global papers. Then: Richard Village, founder of new independent publisher Foundry Editions, joins to talk about bringing Mediterranean authors to the attention of English-speaking audiences. Plus: Nigerian-American artist and poet Precious Okoyomon speaks about her magical exhibition in Basel, Switzerland. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This edition of Monocle on Saturday was first broadcast on the 15th of June 2024.
Hello, I'm Georgina Godwin, broadcasting to you live from Midori House in London.
This is Monocle on Saturday, the 15th of.
Coming up on today's program, we'll have a look through the week's news and culture with Charles Hecker, political analyst and author of the upcoming book Zero Sum.
Then the founder of independent publisher Foundry Editions joins us to tell us about his mission to bring Mediterranean authors to an ever growing audience.
And finally, I'm an avid gardener.
It's a big part of my relation with the world and with other people and with cultivating my spirit.
Nigerian American artist and poet Precious Okoyomon speaks about her exhibit in Basel.
That's all ahead here on Monocle on Saturday.
First, though, here's the news.
World leaders are gathering in Switzerland today for a summit aimed at pressuring Russia to end its war in Ukraine.
But the absence of powerful allies of Moscow such as China will blunt its potential impact.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday Russia would end the war in Ukraine only if Kyiv agreed to drop its NATO ambitions and hand over the entirety of four provinces claimed by Moscow, demands Kyiv swiftly rejected as tantamount to surrender.
Pope Francis made an historic appearance at the Group of Seven summit on Friday to speak about the pros and cons of artificial intelligence, while G7 leaders also pledged to tackle what they said were harmful business practices by China.
Their summit statement released on Friday Evening stressed the G7 was not trying to harm China or thwart its economic development, but would continue to take actions to protect our business businesses from unfair practices, to level the playing field and remedy ongoing harm.
And in South Africa, the African National Congress and its largest rival, the white led pro business Democratic alliance, agreed on Friday to work together in South Africa's new government of national unity, a step change after 30 years of ANC rule.
The deal between two sharply antagonistic parties is the most momentous political shift in South Africa since Nelson Mandela led the ANC to victory in the 1994 election that marked the end of apartheid.
And that's your Monocle Radio news.
Hello and welcome to Monocle on Saturday.
I'm John, joined now in the studio by Charles Hecker, who's senior partner at Control Risks.