New Literature From Europe Festival Comes to NYC Next Month

The New Literature from Europe Festival (NLE), New York City's top European literary event, is returning to New York City, bringing leading and emerging voices from 14 different countries in conversation with some of today's foremost authors, editors and translators. For its 14th installment, NLE will use the lens of literature to celebrate cultural diversity and heritage while addressing the current challenges of globalization and migration. Through a wide range of conversations and panel discussions, the festival will also offer New Yorkers a rare opportunity to hear important voices in translation and discover new ones who might not be known yet on this shore.

Participants include Bruno Vieira Amaral (Portugal), Theodora Bauer (Austria), Brit Bildøen (Norway), Jacek Dehnel (Poland), Adrian Grima (Malta), Gabija Grušait? (Lithuania), Esther Kinsky (Germany), Sarah Meuleman (Flanders, Belgium), Luna Miguel (Spain), Ursula Andkjær Olsen (Denmark), Ioana Pârvulescu (Romania), Vladimir Poleganov (Bulgaria), Chiara Valerio (Italy), and Ferenc Temesi (Hungary). Joining the European authors are moderators Eric Banks (New York Institute for the Humanities), Cressida Leyshon (The New Yorker), novelist YZ Chin, translators Karen Kovacik and Tess Lewis, and Violeta Kelertas (Professor, University of Washington), among others.

"Europe is currently celebrating the Year of Cultural Heritage, offering a unique opportunity to reflect on the diversity and future of our heritage and our relation to it," says Geert De Proost, President of the European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC) New York Cluster, one of NLE's organizers. "We are proud to be part of the New Literature from Europe Festival. By promoting an intercultural dialogue, NLE will ask critical and timely questions while helping to build trust and understanding between the peoples of Europe and the U.S."

"With this new edition of the festival," says Ana Vázquez-Barrado, Instituto Cervantes' Cultural Director and NLE Curatorial coordinator, "we want to create a forum in which literature transcends geographical and cultural borders between the U.S. and Europe. It is also our hope to nurture an inclusive and open dialogue among concerned citizens about some of the challenges of our times."

In this time of intense polarization over issues of migration, borders and ethnicity on both sides of the Atlantic, NLE aims to engage New York audiences in a vital cross-cultural dialogue to foster kinship and understanding. Through a rich and eclectic array of panels, the festival will investigate topics such as: Migration: Bridging the Gaps, in which novelists ask how narratives of past migrations can help us reframe current ones; Public Vs. Private Narratives, which investigates the relationship between truth and reality at a time when words powerfully influence public opinion; Shaping Identities, which examines the role of memory in shaping national, cultural and personal identities; and IT: What's at Stake? which features new millennial voices shaped by the IT revolution and globalization. Each evening will kick off with a one-on-one conversation highlighting award-winning European authors that have books newly released in the U.S. In addition, prominent poets will discuss bodies and lands as sites afflicted by personal and political experience in Afflicted Bodies and Disturbed Lands: A Poetic Approach; and writers from different parts of Europe will read their work in their mother tongue (with English translation) in European Voices in O.V.

The festival is jointly organized by Instituto Cervantes New York, New York's cluster of the European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC) and the European Union Delegation to the United Nations in New York. This edition includes the participation of Arts Council Malta; Austrian Cultural Forum New York; Balassi Institute - Hungarian Cultural Center, New York; Consulate General of Denmark; Consulate General of the Republic of Lithuania in New York with the support of the Lithuanian Culture Institute; Consulate General of Portugal in New York / Camões Institute; Consulate General of Spain; Elizabeth Kostova Foundation with the support of the Ministry of Culture of Bulgaria; General Delegation of the Government of Flanders to the USA (Belgium); Goethe-Institut New York; Istituto Italiano di Cultura New York; Royal Norwegian Consulate General in New York; Polish Cultural Institute New York; and Romanian Cultural Institute.

All events are held in English at Instituto Cervantes (211 E. 49th St., btw. 2nd & 3rd Ave) and are free and open to the public.

For more information or to RSVP, visit: http://www.newlitfromeurope.com

PROGRAM:

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27

6:00 - 6:35 p.m. Sarah Meuleman in conversation with Cressida Leyshon (The New Yorker) on her debut novel, Find Me Gone (Harper Collins, 2018).
6:45 - 8:00 p.m.
Public Vs. Private Narratives
A panel discussion with Brit Bildøen, Adrian Grima, Sarah Meuleman, Vladimir Poleganov, Ferenc Temesi, moderated by Eric Banks (New York Institute for the Humanities)
What is the relationship between truth and reality and the social responsibility of the writer when words can powerfully influence public opinion?

8:10 - 9:25 p.m.
Migration: Bridging the Gaps
A panel discussion with Theodora Bauer, Adrian Grima, Esther Kinsky, Bruno Vieira Amaral, moderated by TBC
Can narratives of past migration help us to reframe some of today's polarizing issues around migration and globalization?

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28

6:00 - 6:35 p.m.
Esther Kinsky in conversation with translator Tess Lewis on her autobiographical novel, River (Transit Books, 2018).

6:45 - 8:00 p.m.
European Voices in O.V.
A reading with Bruno Vieira Amaral, Theodora Bauer, Gabija Grušait?, Vladimir Poleganov, Ioana Pârvulescu, Ferenc Temesi, Chiara Valerio, moderated by Sean Bye (Polish Cultural Institute New York)
Acclaimed writers from different parts of Europe read from their work in their mother tongue (The event includes English translations).

8:10 - 9:25 p.m.
IT: What's at Stake?
A panel discussion with Gabija Grušait?, Luna Miguel, Ursula Andkjær Olsen, Vladimir Poleganov, moderated by novelist YZ Chin
Have new technologies helped to achieve greater equality, or are they creating new divisions? And how do new generations navigate the impact of the IT revolution and globalization?

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29TH

6:00 - 6:35 p.m.
Poet/novelist Jacek Dehnel in conversation with translator/poet Karen Kovacik on poetry, Internet culture, science, postmodern architecture and gay love.

6:45 - 8:00 p.m.
Shaping Identities
A panel discussion with Brit Bildøen, Gabija Grušait?, Sarah Meuleman, Ioana Pârvulescu, moderated by Violeta Kelertas (Professor, University of Washington)
Five writers explore the long-term effects of personal traumas, national tragedies, political oppression, as well as cultural traditions, and how the return of memories can affect the present.

8:10 - 9:25 p.m.
Afflicted Bodies and Disturbed Lands: A Poetic Approach
A panel discussion with Jacek Dehnel, Esther Kinsky, Luna Miguel, Ursula Andkjær Olsen, moderated by TBC
Four exciting poets from different countries and generations explore bodies and lands as sites in which the personal and the political are vividly, and sometimes brutally, inscribed.

For more information, visit www.newlitfromeurope.com.