European Literature Night: Writing the World
Channel: British Library
Date: 2021-06-10

Writing the World for European Literature Night will explore civilisations, boundaries, and the drivers behind cultural exchange.

Laurent Binet lives and works in France. His first novel, HHhH, won the Prix Goncourt du premier roman. The 7th Function of Language won the Prix de la FNAC and Prix Interallié. His latest work, Civilisations (Harvill Secker) has won the Grand Prix de l'Académie française and is now translated into English by Sam Taylor.

Jenny Erpenbeck was born in East Berlin. She is the author of The Old Child & The Book of Words (2008) and The End of Days (2014) which won the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. Her most recent novel is Go, Went, Gone (2017) and her work has been translated into over 30 languages. Erpenbeck’s new collection Not A Novel (translated by Kurt Beals) is the best of her non-fiction.

Anna Kim was born in Daejeon, South Korea and grew up in Austria. She is the author of four novels and the recipient of the 2012 European Union Prize for Literature. Frozen Time was published in English translation in 2010, and Anatomy of a Night in 2012. Her new novel The Great Homecoming (Granta) is out now, and translated by Jamie Lee Searle.

The conversation will be chaired by journalist and broadcaster Alex Clark, who was artistic director at the Bath Festival and is a Patron of the Cambridge Literary Festival. Alex has judged the Man Booker and the Orwell Prize, and she lives in Kilkenny, Ireland.

Presented in association with EUNIC London European Writers programme and the Austrian Cultural Forum London.