Keiron Pim Interviewed by Rebecca Abrams

Writer Keiron Pim talks about the chaotic life of the 20th-century novelist Joseph Roth he has captured in the first English language biography of the author of the masterpiece, The Radetzky March.

Pim follows Roth’s life from childhood in Brody on the eastern edge of the Austro-Hungarian empire, through unsettled roaming across Europe in the years between the wars and his decline and eventual death as an alcoholic on the eve of World War II. Pim looks at the role of Roth’s absent father, his attitude to his Jewishness and his restless search for home.  He finds an author who speaks powerfully to us today in an age of increasing uncertainty and rising ethno-nationalism.

Pim is author of Jumpin’ Jack Flash: David Litvinoff and the Rock’n'Roll Underworld. He works as a tutor on the creative writing MA at UEA, and as a proofreader and editor. Here she talks to Rebecca Abrams, an award-winning author and journalist and regular reviewer for the Financial Times. She is author of Licoricia of Winchester: Power and Prejudice in Medieval England and The Jewish Journey: 4000 Years in 22 Objects. Abrams teaches creative writing at the University of Oxford.

This event is part of the festival’s programme of Jewish and Hebrew literature and culture.

Sponsored by Jewish Book Week and generously supported by Professor Lucian Hudson and Jewish trusts and private donors.