We are pleased to invite you to this year's European Night of Literature. This unique cultural event, which showcases the best of contemporary European literature, will take place on the evening of 13 December at Liebling House in Tel Aviv. The main theme of this year's Literature Night is female heroes and leading characters, this theme will connect all the selected works and performances. This year, 10 European countries joined the project by contributing the work of their contemporary author. The selected texts will be read to the audience by popular Israeli actors, in order to best express the uniqueness of each work.
We have also prepared a rich accompanying program as screening of short movies, live music and discussions.
Short stories will be read by well known Israeli actors: Hana Azoulay Hasfari, Alma Dishi, Michal Karni and Sharon Lipkind
Free entrance
Language of the event: Hebrew
More information will be available on the Facebook event page
AUTHORS WHOSE STORIES WILL BE PRESENTED
The Czech Republic will be represented by the writer Radka Denemarková with her work Contribution to the History of Joy,
Synopsis
Although at first sight the death of a successful businessman looks like a suicide, a sensitive police detective is not fooled by the case and begins to investigate the real causes of his death. The trail leads him to an inconspicuous house under Petřín. But the place holds far more secrets, evidence and memories than it first seems. Mysterious women who have a lot to do with the case and the Petřín site make an unexpected appearance in the story. Through the hidden secrets of the building, the policeman unravels a much larger network of stories that are connected by one key motive - sexual violence. It happened with absolute impunity during the war, but it didn't end with the war. Sexual violence, however, persists in society to the present day and very often is not justly punished. The mysterious women, do not want these crimes to go unanswered, and so they set the world right through their own actions. It is more than clear that the death of the businessman is only a small part of a much more complex plot. In the book, against the backdrop of the detective story, crucial themes begin to emerge: how much more cruelty can our society create before it finally humanizes itself? And what distinguishes our society from the swallows who, unlike us, have not forgotten that they must always protect the weakest in flight.
Radka Denemarková
Radka Denemarková is a Czech writer, literary historian, screenwriter, translator and dramaturge. She translates from German, mainly studies and plays. In her novels, she deals with current social issues, especially pointing out unfreedom, reppression and injustice. In the past, she worked as a researcher at the Institute for Czech Literature of the Czech Academy of Sciences, and also as a lecturer and dramaturge at the Prague Theatre Na zábradlí. As a scriptwriter she has participated in television documentaries about prominent personalities. She began her prose work in 2005, when her first novel " The Devil by the Nose" was published.
In 2022, she received the Styrian Literary Award for her impressive literary performance, among many other important awards, and she is the only Czech author to have been awarded the Magnesia Litera in four different categories. She regularly participates in book exhibitions and literary festivals around the world. Her works have been translated into more than 20 world languages and she is considered one of the most successful Czech writers of today.
Foto © Tobias Bohm
Antje Ravik Strubel: Blue Woman
Antje Ravik Strubel is one of the leading German authors who has published several successful novels. The protagonists of her stories are often rebels who break out of the norms imposed by the ideologies of nationalism and heterosexuality. The excerpt comes from her book The Blue Woman, in which a young woman struggles to cope with post-traumatic stress disorder and find words and justice after being raped and tortured by a German politician.
Tatiana Țîbuleac - The Glass Garden
Tatiana Țîbuleac was born in 1978 in Chișinău, Republic of Moldova, and has Moldovan and Romanian nationality. She first gained renown for her "True Stories" column which appeared in the Flux newspaper in the mid-1990s. She also worked as a TV reporter and news anchor in Chisinau. She moved to Paris in 2008. She published her first book Fabule Moderne (short stories) in 2014, and her first novel Vara în care mama a avut ochii verzi in 2017. The novel won multiple literary prizes and has been translated into French, Spanish and Italian. Her second novel Grădina de sticlă/ The Glass Garden won the EU Prize for Literature.
Birgit Birnbacher: What We Live On
Birgit Birnbacher is one of the outstanding proponents of contemporary Austrian literature. She lives as a sociologist and author in Salzburg. Her highly acclaimed debut novel "Wir ohne Wal" was published in 2016 and received numerous prizes. In 2019 she was awarded the prestigious Ingeborg Bachmann Prize. The excerpt is selected from What We Live On, a novel about work and family, mother and daughter - and the difference between boundless individualism and romantic love.
Foto © SiegridCain
Teolinda Gersão: The Red Fox Fur Coat
Gersao is one of the most prominent Portuguese writers of our age today. Although she has been writing since childhood, she did not start publishing regularly until she was 41, by which time she was working as a university professor. She is the author of more than a dozen books and has become an honorary member of the Royal Portuguese Reading Cabinet. Her short story, The Red Fox's Skin, will be read at the literary evening.
Foto ©Homem Cardoso
Monika Kompaníková: The Fifth Boat
Monika Kompaníková is a Slovak writer and journalist. She published her first short stories in literary magazines and journals and has since published many successful titles. In addition to her prose work, she held a position as editor-in-chief of a newspaper and a web portal for several years. Her novel The Fifth Ship, an excerpt of which will be read at the European Night of Literature, has won many prestigious awards and is one of her most successful novels.
Giedra Radvilavičiūtė: Tonight I Shall Sleep by the Wall
Radvilavičiūtė was born in Panevėžys, Lithuania, graduated from Vilnius University and then worked in journalistic editorial offices. She published her literary debut in 1986, and her essays often interweave many different themes related to everyday life. She has become one of the most widely read literary essayists. In 2012 she won the European Union Prize for Literature for her book "Tonight I'll Sleep Against the Wall". Israeli audiences can also enjoy an excerpt from this novel.
Foto © Daukantė Subačiūtė.
Lena Divani: An excerpt from Working Girl
Lena Divani is a renowned writer and professor at the University of Athens. She is the author of more than twenty books, some of which have been adapted for the big screen and television. One of her most critically acclaimed books, Working Boy, was first published in 2000 and was considered significantly ahead of its time. In 2023, the author decided to re-release it under the title "Working Girl" with a new take on what it means to be a woman in a man's world.
Virginie Despentes: Cher Connard
Virginie Despentes is a contemporary French writer and director. She has worked as a cleaner, a saleswoman, a journalist, but also as a prostitute. Since 1993 she has been writing books for which she has won literary awards. Her novel Child of the Apocalypse (2012) was published in Czech. In her work, she draws on her own experiences of a harsh life on the margins, defined by poverty or gender roles, as well as phenomena such as drugs and the availability of pornography. As a new literary sensation, she has been compared to her compatriot Michel Houellebecq.
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