Chairing events is a delightful part of my job as a journalist. Interviewing people ‘live’ on stage is similar to presenting on TV or radio, and if you like that public aspect of journalism – which I do – then it’s great fun. I love the energy and unpredictability of the live event. It’s also unpredictable…
2014
2014, History
Throw-away Books, a Cultural Wasteland and Archives/ Wegwerfbuch, Brachland und Archiv
by Walter Grond •
A few days ago I took part in the Creative Europe event at the Urania Institute in Vienna. Will everything stay as it was? Or will everything change? The Austrian Federal Chancellery invited us to a preliminary meeting about the EU Support Programme Creative Europe. The presentations and discussions, which most impressed me during the…
2014, Debates and recommendations
The ‘European Union Prize for Literature’ at London Book Fair 2014
by Rosie Goldsmith •
I love literature festivals but – perhaps I’m odd – I also love book fairs! Admittedly, as a journalist and moderator, I don’t have to race around exhibition halls in flat shoes and a serious suit chasing rights and deals. So I’m free to enjoy the people, events and the books – there are lots…
2014, History
Rich versus Poor/ Reich versus arm
by Walter Grond •
The European Literature Days 2011 presented me with some revealing insights. Under the banner of Europe: Fortress, Trauma and Dream, we discussed what possibilities there were for crossing political and cultural boundaries in Europe. The verdict on the open Europe we all long for was devastating and, from the outset, unanimous: Europe is about exclusion.…
2014, History
Building Bridges – the wrong moment?/ Brücken schlagen – unzeitgemäß?
by Walter Grond •
When the ELit Literaturhaus Europa (Literature House Europe) was first launched, we undertook a small experiment with our authors, an idea called readme: ‘You tell me what you read and I’ll tell you who you are!’ (http://readme.cc). We felt distinctions like ‘Either books or Digital Media’ were superfluous, even more so ‘Ink good, Computer bad’.…
2014, History
Looking Ahead: European Literature 2014
by Rosie Goldsmith •
I often chair and curate events on European Literature in the UK, where I’m often asked: ‘Does European Literature exist?’ That may be a shocking question to all of you out there on the Euro-mainland but on our little islands it’s a valid question. It’s tied up with our traditional British Euro-scepticism and our current…
2014, History
Rosie On The Danube
by Rosie Goldsmith •
Magical Memories of ELIT 2013 Where better place to be in October but on the Danube, discussing great literature, drinking stunning Wachau wines and surrounded by vineyards? Not a blue Danube now but a golden, autumnal Danube; hills of terraced red-yellow vineyards climbing up from its shores; a panorama punctuated by pastel baroque buildings, the…
2014, History
Five Years On: the Idea for an Observatory/ Im fünften Jahr: die Idee eines Observatoriums
by Walter Grond • • 0 Comments
Observatorium der europäischen GegenwartsliteraturThe Observatory of Contemporary European Literature In the five years that we’ve been coming together in Spitz for the European Literature Days, something unashamedly European has developed. I feel we can now talk of ‘US’, of a certain closeness that’s European and which could only have come to pass in this small…
2014, History
From London to the Wachau…/ Zwischen London und der Wachau
by Walter Grond • • 0 Comments
There’s a special atmosphere at the European Literature Days and it stems from the original concept. It all began in Zürich in 2002: I was in charge of a project “Schreiben am Netz. Literatur im digitalen Zeitalter” (Writing for the Net – Literature in the Digital Age) at the ETH (Swiss Technical University) and so…