European Writers’ Festival

Saturday 16 May

11.00 – 12.15: Turning Points

Wendy Erskine (Ireland)

Fiston Mwanza Mujila (Austria)

Jente Posthuma (Netherlands)

Chair: Rosie Goldsmith

Lively wit, dark humour, daring literary formats and unconventional characters distinguish these three novels from three writers at the top of their game. Stories of life-changing events and the impact on individual lives, from regime change in 1990s Zaire, a sexual assault in modern Belfast and a devastating medical diagnosis in Dutch suburbia.

12.45 – 14.00: Back To Nature

Zdravka Evtimova (Bulgaria)

Małgorzata Lebda (Poland)

Carolina Pihelgas (Estonia)

Chair: Antonia Lloyd-Jones

Three award-winning, multi-talented female writers (aka poets, translators, marathon runner and photographer!) return to nature to tackle the threat of climate change, violence, war, poverty and injustice. But these exceptional books are far from depressing, elevating these stories of girls, women and grandmothers, with profound emotional truths, sharp satire, glowing prose and the solace of nature.

14.30 – 15.15: Secrets And Lies

Jørn Lier Horst (Norway)

Makis Malafekas (Greece)

Krisztina Tóth (Hungary)

Chair: Noreen Masud

Secrets and lies abound in small town Norway, big city Athens and a near-future central European dystopia. Three renowned writers bring us the twists, turns and treacheries of an autocracy under surveillance, a ‘washed-up writer and philosopher of Athens nightlife’- turned sleuth, and then there’s P.I. Wisting, the only person small town Larvik can trust to track down the mysterious ‘Night Man’.

15.45 – 17.00: Tales Of The City

Sulaiman Addonia (Belgium)

Beatriz Serrano (Spain)

Ayfer Tunç (Turkey)

Chair: Toby Lichtig

Addonia is a British-Eritrean-Ethiopian novelist living in Brussels, running a writing school for refugees; Serrano is a journalist and debut novelist from Spain, and Tunç is an established all-rounder from Turkey. In dazzling works depicting the trials and tribulations of modern life, we meet refugee Hannah in London, young creative Marisa in Madrid, and a whole host of troubled characters in a Turkish psychiatric hospital.

17.45 – 18.45: Saturday Night Fever

Nino Haratischwili (Georgia/Germany)

Vincenzo Latronico (Italy)

Nino Haratischwili and Vincenzo Latronico are two of Europe’s most successful writers, both back home in Germany and Italy and also internationally in translation. Born in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, today living in Berlin and writing in German, Nino is nicknamed Germany’s Elena Ferrante for her page-turning epics of female friendship. She is also a well-known playwright and director, and outspoken champion of independent Georgia. Vincenzo was born in Rome, lives in Milan and spent many years in Berlin. He is an art critic, novelist and Italian translator of George Orwell, Oscar Wilde and many others. His breath-taking psychological study of a woke millennial couple in Berlin, Perfection, was a major critical success.

Don’t miss this opportunity to hear this dynamic duo in conversation as they discuss their multi-cultural, multi-lingual and multi-disciplinary creative lives.

Sunday 17 May

11.30 – 12.45: Personal Histories

Fabio Andina (Switzerland)

Liliana Corobca (Romania)

Marjun Syderbø Kjelnæs (Faroes)

Mighty, moving and prize-winning literature, and rare insights into the history of three smaller European regions, Ticino, Moldova and the Faroes. Andino shares the story of his Ticino grandfather, imprisoned in WW2 for helping Jews escape; Corobca’s protagonist Ana recalls the hardship when Soviet soldiers forced her to leave Bukovina, and Kjelnaes lifts our spirits with powerful personal stories from the Faroes.

13.15 – 14.30: Coming Of Age

Pirkko Saisio (Finland)

Goron Vojnović (Slovenia)

Kotryne Zylė (Lithuania)

Intimate family stories from three prominent storytellers, reflecting the historic reality of 1960s Finland, when teenage Pirkko can’t decide which she hates most, God, her communist Dad or her growing breasts; a multigenerational family epic from 1950s Yugoslavia to today; and, in a modern day Vilnius apartment bloc, Ona defies the Soviet past and alien present with folklore and ancient ritual.

15.00 – 16.15: Stranger Things

Anne-Marie Reuter (Luxembourg)

Sara Stridsberg (Sweden)

Jáchym Topol (Czechia)

These three acclaimed authors have been novel-writing, painting, publishing, translating or writing plays and lyrics and active in public life for decades. Known for their bold, often unsettling ideas, join them for science fiction from Luxembourg, blurred fact, fiction and fantasy from Sweden, and, a picaresque romp through Europe from the Czech master of satire and the strange.

16.30 – 17.45: On The Road

Artem Chapeye (Ukraine)

Christy Lefteri (Cyprus)

Gonçalo M. Tavares (Portugal)

Chair: Bee Rowlatt

All the writers in our closing event have contributed in stunning ways to the literature of their countries and to the understanding of Europe’s most pressing problems, whether through accounts of ordinary lives on the move in war-torn Ukraine from soldier-writer Chapeye, refugee tales from bestselling Cypriot novelist Lefteri, or from Portugal, the story of Hanna wandering round the rubble of post-WW2 Europe.

This event will take place in the British Library and is also available to watch online. Tickets may be booked to attend in person, or to watch online. 

Which ticket is for you?

Weekend passes get you in person access to all sessions across both days of the European Writers' Festival.

Day tickets give you in person access to all sessions on either Saturday or Sunday, please ensure you book for your desired day.

Online passes get you online only access to the European Writers' Festival across both days and to catch-up viewing for 14 days following the event. 

This event will take place in the British Library Knowledge Centre and is also available to watch online. Tickets may be booked to attend in person, or to watch online. 

If you are attending in person, please note that the Knowledge Centre will open 30 minutes before start time of the first session. 

Please arrive no later than 15 minutes before the start time of this event. If you have specific access requirements please email customer@bl.uk

Saturday 16 May

Doors open 10.30

Running Time 11.00 – 18.45

Sunday 17 May

Doors open 11.00

Running Time 11.30 – 17.45

If you book an online ticket, you will receive the viewing link on the first morning of the event. You can either watch the event live or during the next 14 days on catch up.

Day and Weekend Tickets to attend in person are available, with a 30% discount to attend on both days. 

There are a range of other concessions available. These include discounts for British Library Members, Young Persons (16–25s), and visitors on Universal/Pension Credit and free entry for carers.

There is step-free access across the Library. Manual wheelchairs can be borrowed free of charge, subject to availability. Please ask a member of staff on arrival. 

We welcome guide dogs and assistance dogs. Dog bowls are available at the Information Desk, Reading Rooms and all cafés.

A cloakroom and digital lockers are available for visitors who do not wish to take bags and coats into the exhibition. These are free to use and located on the Lower Ground Floor. 

You will find accessible toilets on all floors and baby changing facilities on the Lower Ground Floor, Upper Ground Floor and Floor 1. 

There are several restaurants and cafes at the Library and you are also welcome to bring your own food to eat outside on the Piazza or in our public spaces. There are water fountains that can be used to refill water bottles across the building. Please do not consume food or drink inside the Pigott theatre or in the exhibition galleries.

Learn more about your visit, accessibility, our facilities and cafés.