The State of European Literature is an annual lecture or interview delivered by a prominent author or poet of international renown about the state of literature and Europe from the perspective of literature. This year, ‘The State’, titled ‘I Narrate, Therefore I Am: Literature as an Antidote to Propaganda’, will take place for the eighth time. Gospodinov will explore how literature can generate meaning and empathy in times of cancelled futures and weaponised pasts. How can we postpone our own end and the end of the world by telling our own stories and Europe’s stories?
Georgi Gospodinov is one of the most prominent European authors of today, with a distinctive style that is both poetic and philosophical, yet accessible and full of humour and self-mockery. In 2023, he won the Booker Prize for his novel Time Shelter.
This State of European Literature will take the form of an interview between Gospodinov and journalist Janneke van der Horst, and lecturer in modern European literature Jesse van Amelsvoort.
Time and location: Thursday, 7 May 2026, 20:00 in the University Library. The language of the event will be English.
