Together with the two young talented curators of Read My World 2016, journalist Laura Starink discusses the power of literature at Europe’s farthest eastern border.
Can a writer’s words make a difference at Europe’s farthest eastern borders? Nearly nowhere in the world can one find literature as important and influential as in today’s Eastern Europe. For centuries, the region’s writers have been at the forefront of change, and they are all the more today with war in Ukraine and Poland’s turn to the right. But what is the power and potential of literature in these two countries while undergoing major political change? During the Read My World 2016 we will meet the young new literary voices of dissent, of imagination, and of those who fight against the masses.
Read My World (which will take place this year between 6 and 8 October) selected two decisive and bold voices of Ukraine and Poland’s literary world to step into the role of curators. The poet, translator and festival director Iryna Vikyrchak (Ukraine), and critic, translator and programme maker Grzegorz Jankowicz (Poland), put together a longlist of innovative writers, daring poets, and enticing spoken-word artists from their region.
During Re:Creating Europe, journalist, writer and Eastern Europe specialist Laura Starink will talk to the curators about the role and position of the writer in this region. How does a young generation of writers react to a fast changing political landscape? To what degree does our image of Europe differ from that of a young Polish or Ukrainian generation?
Language: English