Rosie Goldsmith

Rosie Goldsmith is an award-winning journalist specializing in arts and current affairs in the UK and abroad. In 20 years on the staff at the BBC she travelled the world and presented the flagship BBC programmes Front Row and Crossing Continents. Today she combines independent journalism with chairing and running events and festivals in Britain and overseas, and works closely with many leading cultural organizations. Speaking French, German and Italian, she is a champion of international literature, translation and language learning, promoting them whenever she can. She is Director of the European Literature Network, chair of the EBRD Literature Prize and presenter of the popular monthly literary podcast ‘The Words’.

Rosie Goldsmith was born in Newquay, Cornwall, UK, to Jean and Chris, who were both teachers. Chris was also a talented musician and painter. The oldest of four children, when Rosie was six weeks old she moved with her parents to southern Africa, where she spent her early life in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe and South Africa, and where her brother Raymond and sister Hilary were born. Catherine was born on their return to Cornwall. When Rosie was ten the whole family moved to New York, USA, where her father taught art.

Rosie read French and German at Nottingham University (UK).

BBC

After graduating, Rosie moved to Germany for further study and to work as a freelance reporter for the BBC, Deutschlandfunk and DeutscheWelle.

In 1989, Rosie returned to the UK, to London, to join the BBC (her first job), and was working on the launch team of BBC Radio 4's Eurofile, the UK's first weekly programme about Europe, just as communism was crumbling and the Berlin Wall fell.

Working full-time at the BBC until 2009, Rosie became a senior presenter, reporter and critic on a variety of arts and current affairs programmes. She presented BBC Radio 4's live on-air arts programmes Front Row and Open Book, its foreign affairs strand Crossing Continents and the global media show A World in Your Ear. She regularly worked as a presenter, reporter and critic on programmes such as Profile, From Our Own Correspondent, Pick of the Week, Saturday Arts Review and Woman’s Hour, as well as a range of documentary series.

In her twenty years on the BBC staff, Rosie also produced and edited a range of high-profile radio programmes, including Asia File, Crossing Continents, From Our Own Correspondent, The My Lai Tapes, Diverging Dominions; major BBC anniversary events, and programmes featuring (among others) Clive James, David Mamet, Misha Glenny, Nick Clarke and James Naughtie.

Independent journalism

Since 2009, Rosie has worked as an independent journalist. She continues to present and contribute to BBC radio programmes and has written reviews, columns and articles for major publications including the Guardian, Telegraph, Financial Times, Independent, New Statesman and others.

Rosie has also created and presented online multimedia programmes, including the 10x10 Commonwealth Writers podcasts, the Goethe-Institut's Doppelgaenger programmes and the British Council’s international current affairs show The Exchange. She created the online and print magazine The Riveter which profiles international literature in translation.

Events chairing and curating

In recent years, Rosie has become a regular chair and curator for major arts, literature and international affairs events. In 2009 she was curator and chair for Berlin & Beyond, Southbank Centre London's marking of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, and from 2008-2012 she was multi-media journalist in residence for Southbank Centre's London Literature Festival. She is currently a regular chair for, amongst others, the Hay Festival, Wales, Cheltenham, Birmingham, and for several international festivals, including the Emirates Literature Festival, Dubai, the ELit Literature Days, Austria, and for the SILK International Arts and Literature Festival, Norway, She also chairs events for a large number of other organizations, including the British Library, British Council, London Book Fair and Frankfurt Book Fair. She is on the Steering Committee for the London Book Fair Market Focus countries.

Rosie has created and curated a number of events series, including Fashion and Fiction, which she hosts at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, High Impact: Literature From the Low Countries (UK-wide), and Greece Is The Word (Southbank Centre, London). From 2009-2016 Rosie was the host and chair of judges for European Literature Night, an annual event featuring some of Europe's most prominent writers. This took place at the British Library.

European Literature Network

In 2015 Rosie founded and became Director of the European Literature Network, an organization that brings together writers, translators, publishers, booksellers and journalists working in fiction and translation in the UK. ELNet was a recipient of Arts Council England grants in 2015, 2016 and 2017. It received a four-year grant from Creative Europe and is the UK Partner for Literature House Europe.

EBRD International Literature Prize

In 2017, Rosie was appointed Chair of the Judges for three years (2018-2020) of the new EUR20,000 EBRD International Literature Prize.

'The Words' podcast

Rosie is the presenter of the popular monthly literary podcast ‘The Words’, produced by Simon and Schuster. Since it start in 2018 it has been listed as a Guardian Podcast of the Week, Grazia Podcast favourite and ITunes frontpage podcast.

Literature and language-learning consultancy

Rosie acts as the UK literature consultant for several organisations, including Pro Helvetia in Switzerland and the Dutch Literature Foundation. She is an active champion of modern language-learning and translation for a number of organizations and individuals. From 2012-2013 she was on the Advisory Panel on Culture to the European Commission, and from 2010-2013 was chair of the Association of Language Learning Conferences. She is a member of the Creative Multilingualism Project (Oxford University), the All Party Parliamentary Group on Languages, and Born Global/Speak To The Future. She has lectured on the importance of language learning at multiple institutions, including Oxford and Cambridge Universities, Chatham House and the British Academy.

Media training and Specialist PR services

Through the media partnership, Sounds Right, Rosie offers media training and specialist PR services. Her clients include the British Museum, the V&A, the BBC, the Royal Academy of Arts, EUNIC, British Veterinary Association, Association of Ophthalmologists, Bishopsgate Institute, CreateLondon, Cultureshock Media, the Guardian, European Film Festival, Pushkin Press, Southbank Centre, the Polish Cultural Institute and the Goethe Institute.

Rosie won Sony Awards (Radio Academy Awards) for her work on the BBC programmes The My Lai Tapes, Pushing Back the Curtain and Eurofile.

She won an Association of International Broadcasting award for Crossing Continents / African Perspectives.

She won Audio & Music and Foreign Press Association awards for The My Lai tapes in 2008.

She has been short-listed and nominated for Sony, Amnesty, Foreign Press Association and One World Media awards for her broadcasting. In 2013 she won the Chartered Institute of Linguists David Crystal Trophy for fostering the study of languages.

Rosie is married to fellow BBC broadcaster and journalist Max Easterman. Together they run the Sounds Right Media Partnership, which offers media training and consultancy services. They also perform in their own jazz band. Rosie is also known for her love of fashion and the colour red.