For the second year in a row, Tirana is hosting the European Literature Festival, which aims to celebrate European culture in Albania.
The festival will bring together authors and representatives from 13 EU member states and will run until December 6.
The event aims to create spaces and intercultural bridges, uniting well-known writers from Ireland, Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Spain, the Netherlands, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Greece, France, Italy, and Poland.
The authors will engage with Albanian readers and visit high schools and universities.
The festival is organized by the European Union in Albania, in partnership with the Italian Cultural Institute and in cooperation with the embassies of EU member states.
“We want this festival to be an opportunity for conversation, exploration, and connection, where authors, their translators, and readers meet to explore today’s world and its challenges through the power of literature. We will delve into this literary landscape, exchange ideas, discuss thematic issues, promote mutual understanding between different cultures, and reflect on the work we do every day to support Albania on its path toward the European Union,” said Silvio Gonzato, EU Ambassador to Albania.
One of the participating authors, Maja Haderlap—an Austrian bilingual Slovene-German writer known for her acclaimed novel “Angel of Oblivion”—spoke about multilingual writing and cultural belonging:
“The need to explain has accompanied me throughout my life. Over the years, I have reflected on the particular history of Slovenes in this region of Austria and on the unique history of my own family. This is how the desire to write this text took shape—from an inner need. I wrote this novel in German. All my notes were in German, and this surprised me. It was an inner attitude—I wanted to tell this story for the German-speaking world,” said Maja Haderlap.
The European Literature Festival will take place in several key venues across the capital: the House of Europe, the National Theatre of Opera and Ballet, the National Folk Ensemble, Vila 31 x Art Explora, the “Sotir Kolea” National Library, the “Tulla” Cultural Center, the “Babel” Library, and the National Puppet Theatre.
