European Writers' Festival: Sunday

This is an in-person only event in the British Library Pigott Theatre.  

Thirty leading and emerging writers respond to this year’s theme of Transformation, because change and its challenges are all around us. As we in Europe are again shaken to the core by war and division, the European Writers’ Festival hopes to demonstrate that community, debate, entertainment and storytelling can unite us in creating hope and positive transformation.  

Transformation denotes change in our lives or circumstances. It can be extreme or negative, or create magic or joy. All our festival writers have confronted change, maybe in the languages they use, or in the country they call home, sometimes driven out by conflict, or by attacks on their rights. For some, they may have changed the discipline or genre they work in. For others, their motivation may be love, or fun, or simply a desire to travel.  

The European Writers’ Festival provides a platform for writers to discuss, and read from, their latest work in English translation, and together show what transformation means to them. This is a fantastic opportunity to meet a whole host of great European writers all in one place and all over one weekend. 

Book Sunday tickets here. Tickets may be booked for the full two days, or for either Saturday or Sunday. 

Half price tickets available for students, under 26s and other concession groups. 

Organised in partnership with the European Union National Institutes of Culture (EUNIC) London and the European Literature Network, and with the support of the Delegation of the European Union to the United Kingdom

PROGRAMME

SUNDAY 19 MAY

11:30 British Library Knowledge Centre doors open

12:00 – 13:15
Panel 1 - Transforming Historical Narratives
Writing about history is central to European literature but how we write about it, and who writes it, has changed. When your personal history is embedded in historic change how does that shape your narrative? Who are the writers taking over from the great men of history, to tell its stories in daring new ways?
With Anne Berest (France), Christos Chomendis (Greece), Tomas Vaiseta (Lithuania) and Margo Rejmer (Poland).
Chair: Tim Beasley-Murray
in partnership with University College London.

13:30 – 14:45
Panel 2 – Breaking Boundaries
The originality, courage to experiment and boundary-breaking of so many of our festival writers are transforming European poetry and prose. They delight and stimulate readers, and will perhaps stimulate some change in writing in the UK. Our writers take on other worlds and literary traditions, from folk to fantasy, magical realism to sci-fi.
With Michal Ajvaz (Czech Republic), Alycia Pirmohamed (Scotland) and Sebastijan Pregelj (Slovenia).
Chair: Rebecca Jones

15:00 – 16.15
Panel 3 - Europe on the Move
How travel, journeys, migration and movement make their way onto the page. Europe is on the move again, by choice or by force or necessity: what kind of journeys are writers taking and how do they write about them? And after the pandemic, after Brexit, travel-writing itself is undergoing a revival in new and exciting ways.
With Kristian Bang Foss (Denmark), Andrea Tompa (Hungary), Afonso Cruz (Portugal) and Zuska Kepplova (Slovakia).
Chair: Tharik Hussain

16:30 – 17:30
Panel 4 - The New Europeans of the Future
European writers are increasingly multi-cultural, multi-disciplinary and multi-lingual but how can we embrace this transformation and the wonderful opportunities these changes promise for the future? Several festival authors write in the ‘new’ languages of their new homes: how does that impact their craft, their identity and how they feel about home, nationhood and Europe?
With Dean Atta (Cyprus), Sasha Salzmann (Germany), Larisa Faber (Luxembourg) and Tone Schunnesson (Sweden).
Chair: Bee Rowlatt



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