November 16, 2022
Ukrainian Institute of America
2 East 79th Street New York, NY 10075

Free and open to the public. Space is limited. Registration via Eventbrite is required.

For those who can’t make it in person, an edited presentation of the evening will be available on Trafika Europe Radio www.trafikaeurope.org

Czech Center New York and EUNIC New York, in collaboration with the Ukrainian Institute of America, present again this year the European Literature Night. The evening will introduce 11 European authors through readings and discussions. The main panel with the topic “Peace and Literature” will be moderated by Andrew Singer from Trafika Europe Radio.

European Literature Night will take place on November 16, 2022, at the Ukrainian Institute of America, bringing some of Europe’s brightest literary talents to the New York audiences. Opening remarks will be given by Ambassador Silvio Gonzato, Deputy Head of the European Union Delegation to the United Nations.

Critically acclaimed authors as well as translators and performers representing 11 E.U. countries will read excerpts from new works and beloved classics and engage in a panel discussion exploring the topic of literature and peace. Space is limited. Reservations required.

The 2022 lineup includes authors Bianca Bellová (Czech Republic), Krystyna Dąbrowska (Poland), Raphaela Edelbauer (Austria), Olivier Guez (France), Sándor Jászberényi (Hungary), Nora Krug (Germany), Askold Melnyczuk (Ukraine), Claudia Serea (Romania), Ilmar Taska (Estonia), and translator Birutė Vaičjurgis Šležas (Lithuania). Members of NYC-based Saudade Theatre will perform a reading of works by José Saramago (Portugal). Panel “Peace and Literature” will be moderated by Andrew Singer, director and editor in chief of Trafika Europe, Europe’s literary radio station.

What is the relation of peace with literature? We explore this salient topic with authors from this year’s ELN, considering their works, their experience and perspectives, as we discuss several approaches, in both form and content, to greater peace through literature. 

Program:

5:30 PM Doors open
6:00-6:15 Opening remarks 

by Czech Center New York (CC NY), Ukrainian Institute of America (UIA) and Ambassador Silvio Gonzato, Deputy Head of the European Union Delegation to the United Nations

6:15-7:15 Panel Discussion 

“Peace and Literature” — moderated by Andrew Singer, Director and Editor in Chief of Trafika Europe, Europe’s literary radio station

What is the relation of peace with literature? We explore this salient topic with authors from this year’s ELN, considering their works, their experience and perspectives, as we discuss several approaches, in both form and content, to greater peace through literature. (60-minute panel, including Q&A)

7:15-7:30 Break
7:30-9:30 Readings
9:45-10:15 Final gathering
10:15 PM End of the event

Krystyna Dąbrowska is an award-winning younger Polish poet whose poems convey a profound curiosity about the world, not only expressed by the lyric speaker but by those inside the poems — two owls guarding their nest, or a dog at the beach, or blind visitors in a museum. Her work and use of language so captivated the three translators that they decided to collaborate on this collection together. Many poems address daily life; others delve into the Holocaust, family relationships, and travels — to Cairo, Georgia, Jerusalem. Tideline, published by Zephyr Press in 2022, is her first book in English, presented bilingually with the original Polish. These are exquisitely-crafted poems that explore how stories, and history, lie beneath the surface: of a neighbor’s face, city streets, ancient ruins, even language.

Krystyna Dąbrowska is the author of four books of poetry, as well as essays and translations, and the winner of two of Poland’s most prestigious literary prizes, the Wisława Szymborska Award and the Kościelski Award. English translations of her work have been published in numerous U.S. literary journals, including Harper’s, The Harvard Review, The Brooklyn Rail, The Los Angeles Review, and elsewhere, and she has been translated into sixteen other languages. She lives and works in Warsaw, Poland.

“This is indeed quite a tour de force… What emerges is a poetry suffused with the ability to notice the imperceptible, subtle, intimate origin of change and to anchor it in visual cues—a refreshing, quietly revolutionary approach.” — Alice-Catherine Carls on Tideline by Krystyna Dąbrowska, World Literature Today

This special evening is organized by the Czech Center New York and EUNIC New York with the collaboration of partnering cultural institutions and consulates: Austrian Cultural Forum New York, Camōes Institute, Consulate General of Estonia in New York, German Consulate General New York, Goethe Institut New York, Liszt Institute-Hungarian Cultural Center New York, Lithuanian Cultural Institute,  Polish Cultural Institute in New York, Romanian Cultural Institute, Consulate General of Portugal in New York, Ukrainian Institute of America, Villa Albertine, and the support of the European Union Delegation to the United Nations.

About EUNIC New York

EUNIC – European Union National Institutes for Culture – is the European network of organizations working in 90 countries worldwide through a network of 125 clusters and acting as a platform for promoting European values, sharing knowledge, building capacity amongst its members and partners, and engaging local partners in dialogue and common cultural projects. Created in 2007, the New York cluster of EUNIC, bringing together around 40 cultural missions from the European Union, is working in partnership to strengthen the transatlantic dialogue and cultural cooperation and showcase European values and creativity.