Launching Every Time We Say Goodbye with Ivana Sajko and Mima Simić
Berlin, DAAD Galerie, 7 pm on Tuesday, 14 October
Launching their English version of the novel Every Time We Say Goodbye, Sajko and Simić explore the violence Europe inflicts on outsiders and the harm Europeans inflict on each other. Can Berlin offer a refuge, as Sajko’s protagonist hopes? Coversation and readings followed by a drinks reception, presented by V&Q Books. Free of charge.
A man on a train, propelled from a small town on the south-eastern coast of Europe to Berlin by a gesture of violence. As the wheels turn, his mind roams free in a feverish attempt to trace the genealogy of that violence in his own past and that of Europe as a whole. A man in search of a destination where he can be a stranger – but has that better place since ceased to exist?Shipwrecks and border pushbacks; epidemics and industrial ruins; a family divided by economic necessity; a brother lost to crime; love and fear and memories of happier times in Berlin – yet through it all runs a silver thread of hope spun by a far-off friend.A profound novel of contemporary Europe in the stark and furious voice of Dublin Prize-shortlisted Ivana Sajko, powerfully translated by Mima Simić.
Ivana Sajko, born in Zagreb in 1975, is a writer, theatre director and performer, working in the overlapping fields of literature, performance art and music. She is an author of four highly-praised novels and dozens of political theatre pieces, among which Woman-bomb gained international success. Her many awards include the Chevalier de l’ordre des Arts et Lettres and the HKW Internationaler Literaturpreis. A DAAD fellow in 2016, she now lives in Berlin.
Mima Simić is a Croatian writer, an award-winning film critic, translator, and political activist. Her short stories have been included in numerous anthologies, and have been adapted for radio, TV and animated film. Her translations include works of fiction, non-fiction, literary theory, screenplays, and films. She lives and works in Berl
Past Events
Livestream and in-person event with Karosh Taha, Grashina Gabelmann, Selim Özdoğan, Ayça Türkoğlu and Katy Derbyshire, Berlin: LCB
7:30 pm on Wednesday, 10 May 2023
Two novels newly translated from German to English, both set among non-German communities: Karosh Taha’s In the Belly of the Queen and Selim Özdoğan’s A Light Still Burns. While Taha’s teen protagonists face questions of how to lead their lives in the future, Özdoğan weaves his narrative around the last third of a woman’s life, following many years of hard work. Join the writers and their translators Grashina Gabelmann, Ayça Türkoğlu and Katy Derbyshire, in conversation with Deniz Utlu.
In-person event with Sally McGrane and Simone Buchholz, Berlin: Dussmann Kulturkaufhaus
7 pm on Wednesday, 17 May 2023
Too often, thrillers as a genre are consigned to the category of “beach read” or written off as “unintellectual” or “too commercial.” In this conversation, two female authors of modern thrillers – one very established, the other just emerging, one American, the other German – will talk about what it takes to write both thrillingly and intelligently. They will also discuss the feminist history of the thriller as well as the realities of writing in this genre as a woman in today’s world.
Livestream and in-person event with Mithu Sanyal, Cambridge: Trinity Hall
5:30 pm on Thursday, 18 May
Followed by drinks in the Terrace Room, Trinity Hall
Please join us for an evening with author Mithu Sanyal, who will read from her best-selling novel Identitti and its recent translation, and discuss her book in conversation with Kendal Karaduman, Syamala Roberts and Tara Talwar Windsor.
The event will be held in English.
Attendance is free, but please register here to secure your place.
Mithu Sanyal at the European Writers’ Festival, London: British Library
2 pm on Saturday, 20 May
Is freedom of expression under threat? Freedom – to speak, write, read, create, discuss, travel, cross borders and perform in public – is the holy grail of writers. Freedom is also the foundation stone of the European ideal but assaults on these basic human rights are growing, as are the efforts needed to protect them along with the rights of women, disabled people, LGBTQ+, refugees, immigrants and many others. Individual lives and livelihoods are at stake – these are not abstract notions for most writers. So, how should we defend our freedoms and how do writers reflect these issues, not just in their own countries but in their own lives? Join a panel of star European writers.
With Magda Carneçi (Romania), Vigdis Hjorth (Norway), Monika Kompaníková (Slovakia), Caroline Lamarche (Belgium) and Mithu Sanyal (Germany). Chaired by Tahmima Anam.
In partnership with English PEN
We also offer tried-and-tested online workshops for students of German or translation studies. Contact us for more information.