VICTORIA GOSLING is the founder of The Reader Berlin and The Berlin Writing Prize. Her debut novel will by published by Serpent’s Tail in the UK (summer 2020) and Henry Holt (spring 2021) in the US. She is represented by Judith Murray of literary agency Greene & Heaton.
Victoria grew up on a farm in Wiltshire, studied English Literature at the universities of Manchester and Amsterdam, and has lived in London, Australia, Brazil and the Czech Republic. In 2008 she was shortlisted for the Mslexia Unpublished Novel Prize.
Victoria moved to Berlin in 2008 and in 2011 she founded The Reader Berlin, a vehicle for literary adventures that has seen her leading writing workshops across Europe, throwing a literary festival in an abandoned fort, hosting Berlin salon nights and writers’ retreats in Greece and Italy, as well as providing a raft of author services. In partnership with The Circus Hotel and The British Council, she also organises The Berlin Writing Prize.
Alongside directing The Reader’s day-to-day activities, Victoria works as a freelance editor, writer and consultant and is a former contributing editor of Berlin Stories for NPR. Offering manuscript assessments, mentoring, expert feedback and guidance, she has worked with hundreds of writers and consulted on a wide range of publications currently available in print and online.
What brought you to Berlin? Love? World politics? Or was it a coincidence?
I needed a place which would allow me to write. This meant it needed to be cheap (it was in 2008), where I could get a part-time job that would pay my rent while I wrote, a place that supported me with what I was trying to do. Then I got addicted to the Berlin Luft, which is quite odd since it seems to be trying to kill me. I never had allergies before I came here, now every spring I'm choking and wheezing.
What do you love about Berlin?
It is the only city for me. I cycle and wander and poke around junk shops and visit the pigs in Hasenheide. We suit each other. I also love the building where I live, it's a really unusual community of people led by our indomitable hausmeisterin.
What do you miss in Berlin?
My family. The countryside where I grew up. From November to March, I miss the sun which doesn't visit us in Berlin so often.
What is your favorite spot in Berlin?
Tempelhof, Teufelsee, Thai Park ... Oh, and I once had a life changing experience at the Berlin Philharmonie!
Would you say you are a different person in Berlin? A different translator? And if yes, in what way?
I think so. I go home and come back and it's quite painful - the shift. In Berlin, it is easier to have less conventional priorities.
Which existing literary work do you wish you had written?
The Lost Estate by Alain-Fournier. Pat Barker's Regeneration Trilogy. The Gambler by Dostoevsky.
