November 2, 2023 at 6-10:00 PM
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 cooperation with the Ukrainian Institute of America and PEN America, are proud to co-present another edition of the European Literature Night. The evening will introduce eleven European authors through readings and discussions. The event will feature multilingual readings, a musical performance, panel discussions and Q&As, introducing the audience to the best of contemporary European literature.

European Literature Night will take place on November 2, 6-10:00 PM, at the Ukrainian Institute of America, bringing some of Europe’s brightest literary talents to the New York audiences. It will be an evening of cultural exchanges and conversations exploring the way history has shaped the current crises facing Europe and the power of literature to unearth the truths about how we live and understand the role of writers in times of war and political upheavals. 

European Literature Night 2023 is presented by members of EUNIC New York cluster in collaboration with PEN America. The program will feature two panel discussions, moderated by Sabir Sultan, the Associate Director of the World Voices Festival and Literary Programs, and Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf, Chief Program Officer, Literary Programming, both at PEN America.

The 2023 lineup includes Kateřina Tučková (Czech Republic), Anna Frajlich (Poland), Lore Segal (Austria), Sanaé Lemoine (France), Kirmen Uribe (Spain – Basque Country), Anja Kampmann (Germany), Andrey Kurkov (Ukraine), Kat Mustatea (Romania), Kätlin Kaldmaa (Estonia), and Laima Vincė Sruoginis (Lithuania). Pedro Henriques da Silva (Portugal) will perform a tribute to the poets Natália Correia, Eugénio de Andrade and Mário Cesariny.

Program:

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

by Czech Center New York, Ukrainian Institute of America, and the European Union Delegation to the United Nations

6:15-7:00 Panel Discussion 1

“Contemporary Literature and Global Crises” — moderated by Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf, Chief Program Officer, Literary Programming at PEN America

Today, European writers write at a moment where instability looms and they are confronted with the human impact of global migration, the danger of the climate crisis, the long tail of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the devastating war in Ukraine. In this conversation, writers will discuss how they choose to speak to the current political moment in their work and reflect on how it may have affected their creative processes and approach to their craft. The panel will feature Kätlin Kaldmaa (EE), Anja Kampmann (DE), Andrey Kurkov (UA), Sanaé Lemoine (FR), and Kat Mustatea (RO).

7:00-7:20 Tribute to the poets Natália Correia, Eugénio de Andrade and Mário Cesariny

Performed by Pedro Henriques da Silva (PT)

7:30-8:15 Panel Discussion 2 

“The Past is Present” — moderated by Sabir Sultan, Associate Director, World Voices Festival and Literary Programs at PEN America

While the historian’s work of excavating the past offers invaluable revelations about the current political landscape of Europe, writers employ literary imagination to create insights into who we are, what happened, and what comes next. In this conversation the speakers will reflect on how they sometimes mine the national archives, historical narratives, and collective memory in their practice as writers and storytellers. The panel will feature Anna Frajlich (PL), Lore Segal (AT), Laima Vincė Sruoginis (LT), Kateřina Tučková (CZ), and Kirmen Uribe (ES).

8:20-9:20 Intimate Author Readings in Breakout Rooms

9:20-9:30 Closing remarks
9:30-10:00 Final gathering and reception
10:00 PM End of the event

New York-based  Polish poet and writer Anna Frajlich will represent Poland with her The Ghost of Shakespeare. Collected essays published by Academic Studies Press, Boston in 2020 This volume collects the critical prose of award-winning writer Anna Frajlich. The Ghost of Shakespeare takes its name from Frajlich’s essay on Nobel Prize laureate Wisława Szymborska, but informs her approach as a comparativist as she considers the work of major Polish writers of the twentieth century, including Zbigniew Herbert, Czesław Miłosz, and Bruno Schulz. Frajlich’s study of the Roman theme in Russian Symbolism owes its origins to her stay in the Eternal City, the second stop on her exile from Poland in 1969. The book concludes with autobiographical essays that describe her own exile and building her career as a scholar and poet.

Anna Frajlich (Senior Lecturer Emerita) taught Polish language and literature at Columbia University for over three decades. She is author of ten books of poetry and five bilingual editions (English, French, Italian, Spanish, Ukrainian). She received The Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit, awarded by the President of Poland. She is also the recipient of literary awards from Kościelski Foundation, Turzański Foundation, the Union of Polish Writers in Exile, and more.

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, Lithuanian Cultural Institute,  Polish Cultural Institute in New York, Romanian Cultural Institute, Etxepare Basque Institute (Delegation of the Basque Country in the United States), 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.