The Ceremony of the Written Word – Festival of the European Short Story: Port of Europe

From 28 May to 2 June the 16th Festival of the European Short Story will be held in Zagreb and Rijeka. This year’s Festival is a portrait of Europe today, and also a story about what Europe has always been: a port, a space for meetings and exchanges, a point of departure and return, a landing place, the seat of diversity.

The Festival and its stories will aim to answer many of our questions and dilemmas: how safe is this harbour, what surrounds it and threatens it today, how is it changing and how are we changing with it?

Some of the best European and international writers will be talking in Zagreb and Rijeka about their versions of Europe, about their present and future. This year once again the Festival of European Short Stories is bringing to Croatia the winners of the most prestigious international literary prizes, from the Man Booker through the Planet and Independent awards all the way to other acknowledgements of literary accomplishment in English, Italian, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish.

DBC Pierre (Australia/UK), Hassan Blasim (Iraq/Finland); Janice Galloway (Scotland/UK), Rosa Montero (Spain), Chika Unigwe (Nigeria/Belgium), Guillermo Martínez (Argentina), Ondjaki (Angola/Portugal), Lucy Caldwell (Ireland), Bronka Nowicka (Poland) and Melania Mazzucco (Italy)…

These are just some of the international authors taking part alongside a host of Croatian authors to create a great programme comprised of readings, interviews, book promotions, screenings and concerts. This year’s Festival places a special focus on the Italian short story and its author. The Port of Europe is the subject will in an ideal way kick off the partnership between the Festival and the City of Rijeka, a port which will in the next four years play host to artists and projects as part of the project Rijeka Capital of Culture 2020.