cafebabel.com

A future post 'consumption', that deadly 21st century internet disease

('Kelly Burt',) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 12:00:00 -0000

As the 'anti-counterfeiting trade agreement' (Acta) is discussed in public in the European parliament for the first time on 29 February, one Italian journalist imagines what it might be like if we have to pay for every online service. The consumer's copyright-protected future would be free no more

Fictional Russian hopefuls in 2012 elections

('Annie Rutherford',) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:54:48 -0000

Russia’s presidential elections on 4 March are creeping ever closer. Following demonstrations across Russia in the wake of parliamentary elections in December, the run-away favourite Vladimir Putin is now more of a walk-away favourite. Who else is in this one-horse race?

Obituary: Vaclav Havel, master of peace

('Annie Rutherford',) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 14:00:00 -0000

The dissident, thespian and president, who was a symbol of change in the 1989 velvet revolution in Czechoslovakia, died on 18 December at the age of 75 after a serious illness. Homage to a European master of peace, as a three-day mourning period officially begins on 21 December

Croatia’s writers and playwrights: no post-war no-hopers

('English language version of cafebabel.com',) — Wed, 25 May 2011 15:00:00 -0000

It’s impossible for the moment to imagine a literature and theatre scene in Croatia which does not blend in the story of Yugoslavia’s collapse. The wounds are too fresh, holding back the development of a certain maturity. One young generation of playwrights and writers between Zagreb and Split literally put the streets on their stages and pages, as they move between the daily quest for an identity and the desire for renewal

Spanish poet Martin Lopez-Vega: ‘Choose between culture and commerce’

('terrymcc',) — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 17:01:54 -0000

Looking out over Madrid’s Retiro park, the Spanish poet and translator ponders over his literary concerns and gives us his own brief synopsis of the current poetry scene

Spanish writer Eugenia Rico: 'proud to be called a witch'

('English language version of cafebabel.com',) — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 11:06:19 -0000

The author, poet and journalist from Asturias intertwines the fates of two fictional women across the centuries in her latest novel. In Berlin, we talk witches, twitter and why it’s good to be different

International Women's Day: no way we're reading a book by a woman

('Kris Anderson',) — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 10:29:05 -0000

Gloria Steinem once declared that while the truth may set you free, 'first it will piss you off.' 8 March marks International Women’s Day, a day on which women around the world (but mostly around Europe and North America) are celebrating the fact that we are now more equal than ever before. It’s also a perfect day for getting pissed off at how much we have left to accomplish - take literature, for example

Orwell, Bradbury, K. Dick fantasies are our realities

('English language version of cafebabel.com',) — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 13:15:00 -0000

A first-class ticket to Mars, a massive eye watching our lives, the dizzy rise in the consumption of drugs and psycholeptics, the end of the book, the dictatorship of technology. This isn't science-fiction, it's reality, and the biggest names in British and American literature warned us long ago

cafebabel.com Brussels at second EU prize for literature event

('English language version of cafebabel.com',) — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 13:19:32 -0000

Judging literature is difficult, but comparing writers of different languages, cultures and backgrounds is a fruitless task.On November 11, Europe’s literary elite gathered in Brussels to award some of today’s most up-and-coming fiction writers

Conversation with Leo Tolstoy on centenary of his death

('English language version of cafebabel.com',) — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 19:15:00 -0000

20 November 2010; the Russian writer famed for his masterpieces War and Peace and Anna Karenina is about to die for the hundredth time. We meet him before he takes his last train

Nobel literature prize for Peru's Mario Vargas Llosa

('English language version of cafebabel.com',) — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 14:15:00 -0000

In 2010 the Swedish academy awarded a career linked to the description of power (including a real candidacy to the presidency of Peru), and also linked to ideas and defeat. The award coincides with an exhibition in Paris about the life and work of the Peruvian writer, who has often visited the French city as well as Madrid and London

Are Balkan women more promiscuous?

('Milena Stosic',) — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 14:45:08 -0000

It's official: more women are approaching men in the dating stakes and a recent book in Serbia reveals a more liberal attitude. So is the Balkan woman moving towards a western, less conservative European model? We hear from Balkan guys and girls

[TRANS] - Attenti al gatto: la letteratura europea finisce nel cassonetto

('cafebabel.com',) — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 19:00:00 -0000

Ha raggiunto in un lampo i 43mila membri, il gruppo su Facebook che ha permesso di identificare la donna che ha gettato senza motivo un gatto in un bidone dell’immondizia a Coventry, in Inghilterra, qualche settimana fa. Il video, girato dalla telecamera dei proprietari del gatto, ha fatto il giro del mondo e la donna, preoccupata per eventuali ritorsioni degli animalisti (e non solo), ha chiesto protezione alla polizia. Pentita? Nel dubbio, le ricordiamo quanto è stata importante l’immagine del gatto per la letteratura europea e quanto abbia contribuito al nostro immaginario comune.

Venice, the Moses project and fake funerals

('Sarah Truesdale',) — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 11:00:00 -0000

It is slowly sinking, its residents are leaving. The world's media are claiming that Venice’s end is nigh. American environmental information website Mother Nature Network even includes Venice on its '10 places to visit before they vanish' list. But the reality is more complicated

Introducing Italian poet Vanni Santoni's 'precarious characters'

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 11:30:00 -0000

Initially, the Tuscan-born writer blogged a series of characters. The contemporary anti-heroes soon became literary figures, appearing in the book 'Personaggi precari' in 2007

Carme Riera: why Catalan’s 'days are numbered'

Tue, 13 Apr 2010 08:00:00 -0000

Whilst in Lisbon for BeBalears, the Balearic Islands cultural week, the Barcelona-based writer and Spanish literature professor discusses how she struggled to write in her native tongue and analyses the erasmus effect

Book review: the strange case of Ryszard Kapuscinski

('Paulina Dominik',) — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 18:55:06 -0000

The moment I heard that the biography of the late Polish 'journalist of the century' was being written, I knew there'd be some debate. I was right. Because if in Poland someone is 'great', he is also an untouchable saint

Agop J. Hacikyan: 'I don’t feel I am translating my culture into English'

('RenataB',) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:44:37 -0000

The playful Armenian-Canadian author talks his latest novel - hailed as a 'love letter to Istanbul' - straddling continents and his opinions on Turkey in the EU

British authors in Paris on writing and Romania

('danaradler',) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 13:00:08 -0000

Vivienne Vermes is working on an autobiographical piece, whilst Denise Larking Coste is about to publish a novella in French; both Brits are members of a writers group from called 'Babel'. We discuss life in Paris, writing and Romania

Pulling a sickie

("naomi o'leary",) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:00:00 -0000

Whether through dishonesty, laziness or a touch of hypochondria, hoards of the European workforce take undeserved days off each year. Our vocabulary for the practice comes from French literature and ancient Greece

Selçuk Altun: 'Being in a crisis or recovering from one is part of normal life in Turkey'

('Nicholas Newman',) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:00:00 -0000

Planning to visit Istanbul when the city will be Europe’s Capital of Culture in 2010? The Turkish writer, columnist and Chelsea supporter’s latest book ‘Many and Many a Year Ago’ is published in English this month, and is an enjoyable way to prepare for a visit

Vjollca Dibra on being a young poetess in pre-war Kosovo

('Nabeelah Shabbir',) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 01:38:08 -0000

The thirtysomething works at OSCE logistics in Pristina when I meet her in late 2007, four months before Kosovo declares independence from Serbia. Who you might brand your average blonde, bespectacled working mother-of-two is also one of Kosovo's youngest recognised female poets

Tomasz Sobieraj: 'You don't have to write poems about shit, piss or hiccups'

('Lydia Bigos',) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 12:55:44 -0000

The Polish writer is also a self-taught fine art photographer who exhibits in the UK, Germany, Austria and Spain. We talk about the problems of contemporary literature, how to resolve commercialism with art and how his home city of Łódź treats its artists

Stefano Bartezzaghi: 'Europe is more like a crossword than a crossroads'

('Fiona Herdman Smith',) — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 00:30:00 -0000

The Italian puzzle writer and word games expert, 45, explains his view of Europe as a crossword grid with myriad definitions

Obituary: alphabets, butterflies and Inger Christensen

('Lass\xc3\xab Jensen',) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 18:35:47 -0000

Why learn Welsh? They all speak English anyway. Why learn unpronounceable Flemish, impossible Finnish, self-assertive Catalan or miniscule Danish? But when the Danish experimental poet died on 2 January 2009 in Copenhagen, a loser language lost its most beautiful voice

Björn Kuhligk at Frankfurt book fair 2008

('Ed Saunders',) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 20:00:00 -0000

Turkey is the guest of honour at this year‘s Frankfurt Book Fair between 15 – 19 October. Interview with the author from Kreuzberg, Berlin, who spent a month in Eskişehir as a ‘city writer’

Nobel prize for literature: Horace Engdahl on 'ignorant' American writing

('Nabeelah Shabbir',) — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 15:55:47 -0000

The permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy criticises US writing days before the winner is announced, on 9 October

Mika Waltari: from Helsinki to Istanbul

('Media Consulta',) — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 17:13:44 -0000

2008: the EU’s year for intercultural dialogue and the centenary of Finnish writer Mika Waltari’s birth, who travelled Helsinki to Istanbul by train in 1929. For the integration train, Turkey may be only a stop along the way, but a necessary one. Imaginary journey via Berlin

Halma literature network in central, eastern Europe

('Nabeelah Shabbir',) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 15:17:33 -0000

In 2006, a network of cultural foundations came together to build a basis for European literature. Their website has just been launched

Virginie Despentes and Lucía Etxebarría: ‘highbrow bitches’

('Annika Thornton',) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:30:00 -0000

With their French and Spanish novels, Despentes, 39, and Etxebarría, 42, override the superficiality of cultural critics and the need to write about the female body

Lucia Etxebarria: ‘it's a threat if women sell more books than men’

('Akli Hadid',) — Fri, 16 May 2008 17:31:55 -0000

The Spanish sex, drugs and rock’n’roll writer, 41, juggles motherhood and feminist ideals in her literature, and explains why she is sometimes categorised as a lesbian or 'at best, emasculator'

Rhys Hughes: 'the Welsh are very proud'

('Nabeelah Shabbir',) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 12:00:00 -0000

The British short-story writer, 41, cites Italo Calvino and Raymond Queneau as his influences, discusses literature, lipograms and Iberia - and why the boy from Wales only publishes in certain languages

Arkady Babchenko: ‘Russia is the Germany of 1934’

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0000

Sent to the Chechen front at 18, the Russian ‘Novaya Gazeta’ columnist and colleague of murdered journalist Anna Politkovskaya, 31, lays bare the nightmares he endured in his semi-autobiographical 'One Soldier's War in Chechnya'

Yannick Haenel: 'Berlin symbolically incarnates all the horror of the preceding century'

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 02:10:00 -0000

In his award-winning novel 'Circle', the professor from Rennes and 'Ulysses of the 21st century', 40, takes the reader on a European road-trip from Paris to Berlin

Jan T. Gross: Poland's 'anti-semitic' attitude

('Sarah Turpin',) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 12:00:00 -0000

Public opinion in Poland is stirred after the American professor's post-war publication is released

Ornela Vorpsi: me, Albania and the 'whoring of the human race'

('Mary Maistrello',) — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0000

The Italian-writing, Paris-dwelling, prize-winning Albanian writer, painter and photographer, 39, describes beauty as disturbing, discusses her inspirations and is hopeful for Kosovo

Michal Zygmunt: 'By 2010, Poland will be talking commercial gay movement'

('Olia Yatskewich',) — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 12:00:00 -0000

30-year-old author of the book ‘New Romantic’, the journalist and editor of gay magazine ‘Dik Fagazine’ talks politics, left-wing politics and emotion-drained religion

Luciana Littizzetto: Spanish men are sexiest

('Sarah Gray',) — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 04:42:00 -0000

Writer, actress and ‘TV jester’ – Luciana Littizzetto has made a career from her own irreverent brand of self-parody – with great success

Amélie Nothomb: death camps and TV holocaust

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 12:00:00 -0000

In her new novel 'Sulphuric Acid' the Belgian author takes a popular TV craze to new heights by reducing the hell of a World War II concentration camp to the banality of a docu-soap

Roberto Saviano on the Italian Camorra

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0000

First part of an exclusive interview with the author of 'Gomorra', investigating the Neapolitan mafia. From Scottish tourism to Spanish drug trade, the Italian empire stretches throughout Europe and the world

Lindsey Davis: 'my writing is not the ghastly modern personal therapy type'

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 12:00:00 -0000

The award-winning British historical and comedy detective novelist, 58, on 'being like most English people' and her original brand of writing

Doris Lessing: stick your Nobel Prize

('Daniel G. Ross',) — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 00:00:00 -0000

English writer Doris Lessing, 87, won the 2007 Nobel Prize for being an 'epicist of feminine experiences'. But the literature prize lacks the lustre it once had, often charged with being less than impartial

Brian Aldiss: 'I told Kubrick it was impossible he make a film of my story'

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 12:00:00 -0000

The British science fiction author, 82, on working with Hollywood greats, being caned for 'telling stories' at school and Europe being a 'wonderful idea'

Men creating men in Belarus

Mon, 09 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0000

Art is politics - the second part in our series of profiles of artists trying to resist a ‘cultural Chernobyl’ in a Belarus stifled by president Aleksander Loukachenko

György Dragomán: 'one can really see how a dictatorship functions through the eyes of a child'

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 12:00:00 -0000

The Transylvania-born Hungarian author, 34, uses an unconventional narrator to express the horrors of a totalitarian system

Nuruddin Farah: 'Even hunchbacks learn to live with their discomfort'

Mon, 28 May 2007 12:00:00 -0000

The Somali writer, 62, is an important figure in African literature. A committed defender of women’s rights, he chronicles Somalia’s trip to chaos and back

Hasso Krull, voice of a new Estonia

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 12:06:00 -0000

As Estonia prepares to celebrate independence from the USSR, poet and intellectual Hasso Krull explains why Russian will never be an official language

Zidanean gods and heroes

('Francesca Reinhardt',) — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 00:00:00 -0000

Football is well known to be the younger brother of classic literature, complete with all-mighty gods, bloody battles, and fallen heroes. One need only think of the last world cup final, when the god of football Zinedine Zidane head-butted the churlish Italian defender Marco Materazzi with the grace of a dying steer, abruptly ending his career right before its pinnacle

Claudio Magris – ‘When Europe is one state’

Mon, 08 Jan 2007 00:00:00 -0000

He wrote Danube in a café, and it's in a café that we meet the Triestine novelist, translator and very European intellectual

European litera-tour

Fri, 05 Jan 2007 00:00:00 -0000

‘ScrittureGiovani’ is the newest slice of European literature projects. Five writers, five different countries, five short stories, one theme - the focus is on young literary talents