New European literary events calendar
Trafika Europe is curating a new European literary events calendar, for events in, from and about the 47 Council of Europe countries.
News
Natalka Bilotserkivets bilingual interview
In this sublime audio conversation (57 minutes, fully bilingual), Ukrainian poet Natalka Bilotserkivets (Наталка Білоцерківець) speaks of her development as a poet in the former Soviet Union and following. We enjoy an extensive discussion and reading of her poem, “We’ll Not Die in Paris” [see full text below] in light of the poets Apollinaire, César Vallejo, and Paul Celan, and consider the influence also of Ukrainian poet Pavlo Tychyna, Pasternak, Cavafy and T.S. Eliot, and Ukrainian folk culture generally. She talks about the role of political poetry, the writing of her long, acclaimed poem, “May” on the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, and how poetry functions in present-day Ukraine, including in the context of the current war.
Essential New European Literature – Vol. I
Wow – Trafika Europe‘s first book is here, with some very best choice offerings of new fiction and poetry from across Europe, from the first year of our journal. It’s a great gift item – published by Penn State University Press.
Evening of Slovenian literature at Bowery Poetry Club
Trafika Europe hosted an Evening of Slovenian Literature at Bowery Poetry Club in NYC, Sunday 08 November 2015. Celebrating the launch of Trafika Europe 5 – Slovenian Interlude, three writers from this issue performed from their work. Visiting Slovenian poets Aleš Šteger and Tone Škrjanec were joined on stage by Tess Lewis, reading from her new translations of Maja Haderlap, the “lyrical voice of Slovenian Austrians”.
Maureen Freely joins advisory board
It’s a rare privilege to welcome Maureen Freely to the Trafika Europe advisory board. As the current president of English PEN, chair of the Faculty of Arts at Warwick University, and former chair of the Translator’s Association in the UK, she brings an unparalleled depth of experience to the table.
Music & Literature partners with Trafika Europe
In a sublimely suitable match-up, Trafika Europe is pleased to welcome the organization Music & Literature as a partner on our upcoming radio station. One exciting prospect which Trafika Europe Radio holds forth is to foreground aural aspects of literary cultures – literary sound and music which just doesn’t fit on the printed page. The aesthetic and experience which Music & Literature brings in this regard couldn’t be a better fit, and we’re so glad to be teaming up with them.
Trafika Europe event at the Latvian Mission in NYC
Trafika Europe hosted a warm and wonderful evening of Latvian literature at the Latvian Mission to the United Nations in New York, with three visiting literary lights: Nora Ikstena, Liāna Langa and Margita Gailītis, on Friday May 1st, 2015. As Ambassador Jānis Mažeiks noted in his introduction, we were “both legally… and culturally in Latvia” for the evening, and a bilingual approach greatly enhanced the readings throughout.
Trafika Europe – Four Takes event in NYC
Trafika Europe – Four Takes was a great evening of works in translation from Danish, Czech, Bosnian and Armenian. In this, our first New York City event, four excellent literary translators presented and discussed their latest work, at Word Up Community Bookshop, in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, Wednesday, April 8, 2015.
John O’Brien joins Trafika Europe Advisory Board
John O’Brien, Founder and Publisher of Dalkey Archive Press, has joined the Trafika Europe Board of Advisors. Dalkey Archive is regarded by many as the leading publisher of avant-garde fiction and literature in translation in English-language. Since its inception in 1984, Dalkey Archive has amassed a remarkable body of talent; its not-for-profit stance has allowed the freedom to experiment and showcase works of notable quality and formal excitement independent of commercial considerations.
At Trafika Europe, we’re inspired by Dalkey Archive’s ceaseless dedication to finding and keeping accessible gems of literature from many cultures. It is hard to overestimate the value of such rare and fine initiatives, for which Trafika Europe has greatest affinity. We’re grateful to John O’Brien and pleased to welcome him to our advisory board; we certainly look forward to the enriching conversation it brings to our project.
Georgi Tenev audio interview
Bulgarian novelist Georgi Tenev is the author of Party Headquarters. In this fascinating conversation, he discusses differences in artistic approach between writing for novels and for the theater, and the line between literature and politics in post-Socialist Bulgaria, offering insights on engaging with a totalitarian past, as a Bulgarian writer and as a person in contemporary society. An excerpt from Party Headquarters appears in Trafika Europe 3.
If you like what you hear here, please visit our Trafika Europe Radio campaign. There you’ll find lots more info about our Radio, and some great rewards, as we prepare for launch.
Will Evans joins Trafika Europe Board of Advisors
Will Evans, founder and publisher of Deep Vellum Publishing has just been welcomed as the newest member of Trafika Europe’s Board of Advisors. Deep Vellum is an exciting new not-for-profit publishing house devoted to literary translation, with the mission to “promote translation as a vital part of our literary culture.”
Ervin Laszlo joins Trafika Europe Board of Advisors
We are so happy to welcome Prof. Dr. Ervin Laszlo to the Trafika Europe Board of Advisors. One of the great renaissance thinkers of our times, Dr. Laszlo is an advisor to the UNESCO Director General, ambassador of the International Delphic Council, and a member of the International Academy of Science, World Academy of Arts and Science, and the International Academy of Philosophy. He has the highest degree from the Sorbonne University in philosophy of science, and is generally credited with founding systems philosophy.
Dr. Laszlo served as research director at the United Nations headquarters in New York, authoring over 20 studies there on the new world economic order, and regional and interregional cooperation – the latter a topic dear to us at Trafika Europe.