Need your text about the Balkans or Australia checked and edited for sensitivities?

Writing about the Balkans or Australia can be a minefield having to deal with the multitude of competing interpretations of its past and present, with armies of self-appointed keyboard activists ready to cancel anyone who doesn’t share their views. What might seem the most innocuous word or claim could actually be something very offensive to someone else. But how are you to know?

Before unleashing your text to the baying masses, best have it checked for sensitivities. This is where I can help you avoid starting a new online war or becoming unintentionally infamous for all the wrong reasons.

How can I help you here?

Having had since childhood an intense interest in Balkan and Australian history, politics and culture nurtured from the truly multicultural nature of my upbringing and subsequent life, where I was exposed to the many competing narratives at play, and being an unwitting witness to consequences of these, I’m able to provide you with an unique and individual perspective to help you safely navigate through what otherwise can be very sensitive territory. Being inside but still outside of these boxes provides this outlook. Therefore, if you have written text about the Balkans or Australia, I can help guide you by kindly pointing out to you points or words that may be seen as offensive by others, and from all points of view. It’s not just a case of being ‘woke’ but taking into account the full picture, with the intention of avoiding the uncertainties and unpleasantness that unfortunately comes with modern-day social media interaction.

Am I qualified?

Yes, with my Master’s degree in Communications specialising in multilingual and multicultural media, as well as a Bachelor’s degree in modern languages, history and culture, plus my accreditation in translation from most Southern Slavic languages into English, I am more than qualified to assist you here.

What services do I provide?

• Sensitivity reading

• First reading

• Fact-checking

• Updates

• Contributions

• Content editing

• Perspective reading

Book topics covered

• Balkan, Eastern European and Australian history

• Balkan, Eastern European, Middle Eastern and Central Asian music

• Balkan and Australian pop culture

• Balkan travel

• Multiculturalism

• Migrant experience

• Diaspora politics and culture

Books I have been involved with

Here are some of the books that I’ve been involved with as a fact checker, sensitivity reader, first reader, contributor, updater and protagonist

• To The Lake by Kapka Kassabova (Prix du meilleur livre étranger (non-fiction)/Best Foreign Book Prize for non-fiction, France, 2021)

• Elixir by Kapka Kassabova

• Anima by Kapka Kassabova (soon to be released)

• Princes Amongst Men by Garth Cartwright

• Going for a Song: A Chronicle of the UK Record Shop by Garth Cartwright

• Rough Guide to World Music

• Rough Guide to Bulgaria (2003)

• Romani Routes: Culture Politics and Balkan Music in Diaspora by Carol Silverman

How can I find out more?

Contact me with your details at info@nicknasev.com and I’ll be happy to discuss what needs to be done.