European Literature Night 2024

The 6^th edition of the annual literature festival celebrated a diverse selection of European literary voices at the Ukrainian Institute of America.

NEW YORK, October 24, 2024 – Authors, translators, and performers from seven EU countries got together in New York City on October 24, 2024, for the 6^th edition of European Literature Night (ELN). Hosted by the Ukrainian Institute of America, ELN celebrates the diversity of voices and cultures of Europe’s literary landscape. Launched in 2017, the festival is organized by EUNIC New York, a cluster of 40 European cultural institutes and embassies.

This year’s event brought together writers, translators, and performers from Czechia, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and Switzerland, presenting a range of contemporary European writing to an interested and engaged audience. After two insightful panel discussions among the authors and moderators Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf and Sabir Sultan, various multilingual readings, including staged performances, and Q&A sessions followed. The event concluded with a poetic musical performance and reception.

This year’s line-up consisted of authors Romain Buffat (CH, Grande-Fin), Paulo Rodrigues Ferreira (PT, No One Goes Back to What They Left Behind), Rimantas Kmita (LT, The Southside Chronicle), Iona Nicolaie (RO, The Book of Reghina), and Magdaléna Platzová (CZ, Life After Kafka) as well as translators Ross Benjamin (DE, The Diaries of Franz Kafka) and Grażyna Drabik (PL, Wartime Notebooks). The performers Julijus Aleksovas (LT), Nuno Marques (PT), Maryel Mayz (PT), and Rita Sistrunk (LT) further showcased a delightful musical program.

This wonderful evening was organized by the Czech Center New York and EUNIC New York with the help of partnering cultural institutions and consulates: Camōes Institute, German Consulate General New York, Goethe-Institut New York, Liszt Institute-Hungarian Cultural Center New York, Lithuanian Cultural Institute, Polish Cultural Institute in New York, Romanian Cultural Institute, Consulate General of Portugal in New York, Consulate General of Switzerland in New York, Ukrainian Institute of America, and with the support of the European Union Delegation to the United Nations.