Aberystwyth hosts International Literature Forum

Publishers and poets, writers, translators and festival organisers from across Europe and beyond will gather in Aberystwyth in April for a two-day International Literature Forum on Audience Development.

The event will focus on building the audience for translated literature, sharing best practice and developing innovative ways of reaching more people.

Keynote speakers include celebrated Icelandic writer Sjǿn; Vinutha Mallya from Publishing Next, India; award-winning author Patrick McGuinness and Jo Glanville from English PEN.

Two of the forum’s special sessions are open to the general public. At the National Library on Friday 15 April, there will be a chance to see exclusive preview clips from the upcoming feature film Y Llyfrgell when author Fflur Dafydd talks about the challenges of adapting her novel for the screen. She will be joined by fellow writer Caryl Lewis who worked on the film adaptation of her novel Martha, Jac a Sianco, as well as adapting scripts for the acclaimed crime series Hinterland.

On Saturday 16 April, author Patrick McGuinness will give a public lecture at 11:30 in the Old College.  The lecture takes its title from the writer’s memoir Other People’s Countries which recalls his childhood days in the Belgium town of Bouillon and which won the Wales Book of the Year (English-language) in 2015.

This International Literature Forum on Audience Development is the latest in a series of literary events being held as part of Literary Europe Live – a project coordinated from Aberystwyth by Literature Across Frontiers and funded by the Creative Programme of the European Union.

The project brings together 16 prestigious literary festivals and venues from across Europe in a two-year programme aimed at highlighting the diversity of the European literary landscape, developing audiences for translated literature and promoting outstanding emerging talent.

The Forum also marks the 15th birthday of Literature Across Frontiers (LAF) which is based in the Mercator Institute at Aberystwyth University.

LAF was set up as a European platform for literary exchange and translation in 2001. Since then, it has organised around 1,000 events, in 60 languages, in 75 countries, involving 2,500 literary creators.

The International Literature Forum on Audience Development is led by Literature Across Frontiers as part of the Literary Europe Live project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union, with support from Arts Council Wales and the Welsh Government through Creative Europe Desk UK – Wales.

Literature Across Frontiers is a European Platform for Literary Exchange, Translation and Policy Debate which was established in 2001 within the Mercator Institute for Media, Languages and Culture at Aberystwyth University in Wales, UK, and which is supported with subsequent grants from the Culture Programme of the European Union (www.lit-across-frontiers.org).

Literary Europe Live brings together sixteen literary festivals and venues from around Europe to foster and encourage programming that reflects the richness and diversity of the European literary landscape. Co-ordinated by Literature Across Frontiers, the project is co-funded by the European Commission’s Creative Europe Programme and by Aberystwyth University, the Arts Council of Wales and the Welsh Government through Creative Europe Desk UK – Wales.

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