Chairperson: Rachel McNicholl
Historically, English-language readers have devoured European literature. Names like Franz Kafka, Gustave Flaubert and Thomas Mann are so familiar we hardly think of them as foreign at all. What those writers brought to the table was a proliferation of new ideas, styles, and ways of seeing the world. Yet times have changed, and how much do we even know about the richly diverse literature being written in Europe today?
Best European Fiction presents three tantalising new talents from this year’s annual anthology of European short fiction. Arno Camenisch (Switzerland) is an award-winning novelist, short story writer, poet and renowned spoken word performer. Maritta Lintunen (Finland) has been nominated for several Finnish prizes and was awarded the WSOY Literature Foundation Prize in 2010 for her literary achievements. Donal McLaughlin (Scotland) is a short story writer and translator. He is a recipient of the Robert Louis Stevenson Memorial Award, and was PEN’s first écrivain sans frontières.
This special event opens a window on the Continent’s leading literary scenes. Join us for a rich harvest of the very best in European short fiction.
This event is presented in association with Dalkey Archive Press.