Our October EUPL book club meeting spotlighted mystery fiction novels. The book club read three EUPL winning novels: La carte des regrets by Nathalie Skowronek (Belgium, 2020), All the birds, singing by Evie Wyld (UK, 2014), and The diary of an infidelity by Emilios Solomou (Cyprus, 2013). For our discussion on the theme, we were joined by Nathalie Skowronek, who spoke about her EUPL winning novel and explored the secrets it hides. Find out more about our book club here, and stay up to date with what we're reading next. 

EU Prize for Literature

EUPL Book Club on 'mystery novels' with Nathalie Skowronek

Our September EUPL book club meeting spotlighted short stories collections. The book club read three EUPL winning novels: The hour of dusk (Dienų Piramidės) by Daina Opolskaitė  (Lithuania, 2019), Breve teoría del viaje y el desierto (Brief theory of travel and the desert) by Cristian Crusat  (Spain, 2013), and Има ли кой да ви обича (Is there anybody to love you) by Kalin Terziiski (Bulgaria, 2011).  For our discussion on the theme, we were joined by Daina Opolskaite, who spoke about her EUPL winning novel and how her love of short stories shaped her writing career. Find out more about our book club here, and stay up to date with what we're reading next. 

EUPL Book Club on 'short stories' with Daina Opolskaite

Our fourth EUPL book club meeting spotlighted travel. The book club read three EUPL winning novels: Death drives an Audi (Døden kører Audi) by Kristian Bang Foss (Denmark, 2013), The son (Sin) by Andrej Nikolaidis (Montenegro, 2011), and The day the river froze (Τη μέρα που πάγωσε ο ποταμός) by Stavros Christodoulou (Cyprus, 2020). This event was organised in partnership with Lit Cities - an exciting digital initiative compiling a database of novels that unveil the magic of urban tales and equip the reader with a feeling for a city‘s inhabitants, their habits and idiosyncrasies. Lit Cities is the cultural hub for the world of literature and the poetic dimension of travelling. For our discussion on the theme, we were joined by Stavros Christodoulou, who spoke about his EUPL winning novel, upcoming new book and his writing career, as well as the cities and regions his works are based in.  Find out more about our book club here, and stay up to date with what we're reading next. 

EUPL Book Club on 'travel' with Stavros Christodoulou

Our third EUPL book club meeting spotlighted historical fiction. The book club read three EUPL winning novels: Viaţa Începe Vineri (Life Begins On Friday) by Ioana Pârvulescu (Romania, 2013), Le Dernier Gardien d’Ellis Island (The Last Guardian of Ellis Island) by Gaëlle Josse (France, 2015), and Gaiļu Kalna Ēnā (In the Shadow of Rooster Hill) by Osvalds Zebris (Latvia, 2017). For our discussion on the theme, we were joined by Ioana Pârvulescu and Osvalds Zebris, who spoke about their EUPL winning novels and about their lives and writing careers following the Coronavirus outbreak. Find out more about our book club here, and stay up to date with what we're reading next.   

EUPL Book Club on 'historical fiction' with Ioana Pârvulescu and Osvalds Zebris

On 17 June 2020, EUPL laureates Lana Bastašić (Bosnia and Herzegovina 2020 and Raquel Martínez-Gómez (Spain 2010) participated at an online Q&A event hosted by the female-led online book club Women's Writes. This is the audio recording on the event. 

Women's Writes In Conversation With Lana Bastašić and Raquel Martínez-Gómez

Ahead of the World Refugee Day on 20 June, EUPL spoke with Walid Nabhan (Malta, 2017) and Giovanni Dozzini (Italy, 2019) highlighting topics of displacement, identity, and the role of literature in raising awareness to the challenges refugees and displaced people face globally.

EUPL in conversation with Walid Nabhan and Giovanni Dozzini

On 13 May 2020, EUPL laureates Gabriela Babnik (Slovenia, 2013) and Piia Leino (Finland, 2019) participated at an online Q&A event hosted by the female-led online book club Women's Writes. This is the audio recording on the event. 

Women's Writes In Conversation With Gabriela Babnik and Piia Leino

On 15 April 2020, EUPL laureates Evie Wyld (UK, 2014) and Bianca Bellová (Czech Republic, 2017) participated at an online Q&A event hosted by the female-led online book club Women's Writes. This is the audio recording on the event. 

Women's Writes In Conversation With Evie Wyld and Bianca Bellová

Our second book club meeting spotlighted relationships dynamics, exploring family and romantic connections. We were joined by Chistophe van Gerrewey, one of the spotlighted authors, for our discussion on the theme, talking about his EUPL winning book, and his life and writing career following the Coronavirus outbreak. The book club read three EUPL winning novels: 'Vom Ende der Einsamkeit (On the end of loneliness)' from Benetict Wells, 'Op de Hoogte (Up to date)' from Christophe van Gerrewey, and 'Longshore drift' from Karen Gillece.   Find out more about our book club here, and stay up to date with what we're reading next. 

EUPL Book Club on 'relationships' with Christophe van Gerrewey

In the third and final episode of a new #EUPLonline reading podcast, our 2019 laureate Marta Dzido from Poland reads the English excerpt of her winning book ‘Frajda’, or 'Thrills' in English. Listen here to find out how the story continues.  Part 1: here Part 2: here

Marta Dzido reading Frajda, part 3

Ahead of Europe Day this Saturday, 9 May, we spoke with three EUPL winners: Gast Groeber, our 2016 winner from Luxembourg, Haska Shyyan, our 2019 winner from Ukraine, and Immanuel Mifsud, our 2011 winner from Malta. During out talk, we explored how our winning authors experience the linguistic and cultural landscape in Europe, discussed how EUPL helped them overcome potential barriers to reach wider audiences, and spoke about the current pandemic and how that might have influenced their writing and thinking about global world.

EUPL and Europe Day

In the second episode of a new #EUPLonline reading podcast, our 2019 laureate Marta Dzido from Poland reads the English excerpt of her winning book ‘Frajda’, or 'Thrills' in English. Listen here and make sure to come back next week to find out how the story continues. Part 1: here  Part 3: here

Marta Dzido reading Frajda, part 2

In the first episode of a new #EUPLonline reading podcast, our 2019 laureate Marta Dzido from Poland reads the English excerpt of her winning book ‘Frajda’, or 'Thrills' in English. Listen here and make sure to come back next week to find out how the story continues.  

Marta Dzido reading Frajda, part 1

Our first EUPL Book Club spotlighted dystopian fiction. We explored the worlds created by three EUPL winning authors: Jasmin B. Frelih in 'In/Half', Bianca Bellová in 'The Lake', and Piia Leino in 'Heaven'.  Our first discussion took place on 22 April, and we were joined by our three winning authors for an engaging talk on dystopian fiction and the worlds they've created in their novels. Catch up with our discussion. 

EUPL Book Club: Dystopian fiction with Bianca Bellova, Jasmin B. Frelih, and Piia Leino

A while ago we had an opportunity to speak with Nikos Chryssos, our 2019 winner from Greece. Nicos talks about what meeting other EUPL winners means to him, common themes he saw emerging between them, and why books and bookstores hold a special place in his heart.  Born in 1972 in Athens, Nikos Chryssos (Νίκος Χρυσός) studied at the Department of  Biology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and at the Department of Film Direction at the School of Cinematography ‘Lykourgos Stavrakos’. He is the owner of an old books’ store in Athens. He wrote the novels The Secret of the Last Page (Το μυστικό της τελευταίας σελίδας, Kastaniotis Editions 2009) and New Day (Καινούργια μέρα, Kastaniotis Editions 2018). In 2014 he edited the annotated revised edition of the book Unforgettable Times (Αξέχαστοι καιροί) by Lefteris Alexiou as well as the collected volume Stories of Books (Ιστορίες βιβλίων), both published by Kastaniotis Editions.  Since September 2018 he has been the Vice-President of the Greek Section of the ‘International Society of Friends of Nikos Kazantzakis’ (ISFNK).  Find out more: https://www.euprizeliterature.eu/authors/nikos-chryssos 

EUPL interview with Nikos Chryssos, EUPL 2019 winner from Greece

The aim of the European Union Prize for Literature (EUPL) is to put the spotlight on the creativity and diverse wealth of Europe’s contemporary literature in the field of fiction, to promote the circulation of literature within Europe and to encourage greater interest in non-national literary works.

hubhopper

EU Prize for Literature

hubhopper