Now in its 12th year, the four-day
New Literature from Europe (NLE) Festival will run from November 6-9 and highlight emerging and acclaimed European authors joined by American translation champions. German writer
Bettina Suleiman will be featured with her debut novel
Auswilderung, published by Suhrkamp Verlag, Berlin in 2014.
Auswilderung (which translates as Release into the Wild) takes the relationship between a female researcher, specialized in sign language, and a male gorilla as its main focus, exploring whether gorillas can live as humans and whether they have personalities that would entitle them to rights.
During the NLE Festival Suleiman will talk about animal rights and writing with responsibility, she will be part of an afternoon reading that spans the European Continent from North to South and East to West, as well as a conversation with PEN Translation Committee Co-Chair Margaret S. Carson on the challenges and opportunities European women authors face when seeking to translate their work.
THE CALLING: WRITING WITH RESPONSIBILITY
The Center for Fiction, 17 East 47th Street, NY 10017
11/06/2015 6:30-7:30pm
Free and open to the public
Whether it’s fiction, a biography a true story or a blog post, words with a strong message can change the world. Join authors
Wojciech Jagielski, who examines race and inequality at the end of apartheid in his new book
Burning the Grass:
At the Heart of Change in South Africa, 1990–2011,
Bogdan Suceavă on his satirical political portrayal of Romania’s first years after the fall of the communism in
Coming from an Off Key Time, Bettina Suleiman on animal ethics in her debut novel
Auswilderung, and
Ardian Vehbiu, winner of the 2014 Ardian Klosi non-fiction award and author of a blog that sparks cultural and political debates in Albania, on the role of the writer as a catalyst for positive social change. They will be joined by Fulbright Scholar, photographer, and the award-winning author of
Beneath the Lion’s Gaze,
Maaza Mengiste to discuss the power of literature to reexamine social and cultural inequalities of the pas in an effort to change the future. Book sales/signing to follow.
COME TOGETHER: AN AFTERNOON READING
Scandinavia House, Victor Borge Hall, 58 Park Avenue, NY 10016
11/07/2015, 4-5:30pm
Free and open to the public
Where does Europe start and where does it end? Most countries share common historical experiences, but today with millions of refugees spilling across Europe, deep fault-lines are beginning to appear questioning our beliefs and testing our humanity. Tonight we ask some of our guests to reflect upon the power of literature by reading from work that has the power to either bring us together or tear us apart. Join us as we bridge geographical and cultural divides in an effort to come together. Book sales/signing and cocktail reception to follow.
Participants: Niccolò Ammaniti, Tomáš Halík, Wojciech Jagielski, Josefine Klougart, Alek Popov, György Spiró, Bogdan Suceavă, Bettina Suleiman and Ardian Vehbiu, with introductory remarks from Sean Bye, NLE Festival President and Morgan Entrekin, President and Publisher of Grove Atlantic and Founder of the website Literary Hub.
WOMEN IN TRANSLATION
Bowery Poetry Club, 308 Bowery, NY 10012
11/07/2015, 3:30-5pm
Free and open to the public
Some of the most dynamic and exciting voices in European literature today are those of women – yet there is a significant gender gap when it comes to publishing literature in translation. Join
Naja Marie Aidt,
Josefine Klougart, and
Bettina Suleiman, as they talk to PEN Translation Committee Co-Chair
Margaret S. Carson about their writing, as well as the challenges and opportunities women authors face in Europe. Special guest Chad Post, publisher of Open Letter Books at the University of Rochester, and editor of the Three Percent website will give an inside look at the picture in the United States, and how publishers can help address the imbalance.
For the full Festival program visit the
New Literature from Europe website.
Bettina Suleiman, born in Dessau in 1978, published her debut novel
Auswilderung in 2014 with the prestigious publishing house, Suhrkamp Verlag, Berlin. Her essays and short stories have appeared in
Die Zeit,
Words Without Borders, and the anthologies of the German Creative Writing Program Leipzig, Columbia University School of Arts, and Forum Femmes Méditerranée, Marseille. Suleiman holds an MFA in Creative Writing, an MA in German Studies, and a PhD in Philosophy. Her thesis examines the argument of self-defence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She has worked for theatres and NGOs in Israel, where she lives with her husband.
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