With poet Sylva Fischerova of the Czech Republic, Belgian novelist and winner of the European Union Prize for Literature Peter Terrin and German novelist and publisher Meike Ziervogel. Chaired by Scott Pack.
Join us for the annual European Literature Night – a chance to discover the best voices in translation – as we bring together a panel of inspiring writers from across the channel to read from their work, and discuss key artistic themes and the countries that shape them.
This year, we consider questions of identity and belonging – be that to your immediate family, local community or nation – in an evening of discussion and readings from three European authors.
Presented in partnership with EUNIC and the European Writers’ Tour with additional support from the Czech Centre and Flanders House
Born in 1963, Sylva Fischerová, poet, novelist, philosopher, is one of the most formidable Czech writers of her generation. She is the author of ten collections of poems, two volumes of short stories, two novels and two children’s books. Her books have been published in numerous languages including English. Her prose book Europe Is Like a Thonet Chair America Is Right Angle was nominated for the prestigious Magnesia Litera Award. Fischerová was born in Prague, but lived in Olomouc until the age of eighteen. She initially studied philosophy and physics at Charles University but eventually switched over to classical philology. She currently holds a position in the Department of Greek and Latin Studies at Charles University, Faculty of Arts. She specializes in Greek literature, philosophy, and religion. Her father Josef Ludvík Fischer was a philosopher whose work was banned under the communist regime.
Peter Terrin is a Belgian novelist, and a winner of the European Union Prize for Literature. He is the author of five novels and two collections of short stories. In 1998 he published his first volume of short stories, De code (The Code). Overall literary appraisal came with his second novel, Blanco, in 2003. De bewaker (The Guard) marked his international breakthrough in 2009, with translations in more than 10 languages. His subsequent novel Post Mortem (2012) established him as a bestselling author, which was confirmed with his sixties-novella Monte Carlo in 2014. His most recent novel Yucca (2016) was shortlisted for the ECI Literature Prize.
Meike Ziervogel is a translingual novelist. She grew up in Germany and came to Britain in 1986. Her debut novel Magda was shortlisted for the Guardian’s Not the Booker prize and nominated as a book of the year 2013 by the Irish Times, Observer and Guardian readers. Her fourth novel, The Photographer, is recommended by the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2018. Meike is also the publisher of Peirene Press.
