Word Express

A train of thought spreads the word through South-East Europe

In the second half of October 2009, twenty young writers from South-East Europe and the United Kingdom will embark on a train journey with a difference. Travelling in three separate groups, the writers will set out from Sarajevo, Bucharest and Ljubljana as part of a literary project called Word Express. Their final destination will be Istanbul, but before reaching the Turkish capital of culture, they will stop in a number of cities along the way to be meet local writers and give readings, and eventually write about their impressions of the places they visit and the people they encounter.

Metropoetica

How does writing poetry relate to the process of walking in the city? What happens when we walk in the city without any economic purpose such as working or shopping? In translating poetry, what lost paths, dark alleys and chance encounters are stumbled across? Metropoetica is a group of women writing and walking in different cities across Europe in response to these questions.

European Literature Today and 1001 Books for the Bibliotheca Alexandrina

Literature Across Frontiers started 2008, the European Union’s Year of Intercultural Dialogue, with two projects of literary exchange between Europe and the Arab world. European Literature Today is a series of literary events which presents authors from different European countries to audiences in Cairo and Alexandria. Meanwhile 1001 Books for Bibliotheca Alexandrina is a collection of representative literary works from all around Europe, donated to Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Egypt’s ambitious and extensive library.

Sealines

Port cities have always played a crucial role in the cultural development of regions and countries. Gateways to the wider world and centres of trade and industry, they have attracted people from different backgrounds and facilitated the exchange of not only goods but also of ideas. The Sealines Project links six European port cities with a tradition of literary bilingualism through a series of writers’ and artists’ residencies. The cities involved are four capitals: Cardiff, Helsinki, Riga and Valletta, and two regional ports: Galway on the West Coast of Ireland and Koper (Capodistria) on the Slovenian coast.

Cross-Border Art Project in the Middle East

The Cross Border Arts Project was developed as part of the Build a Bridge Campaign launched by the Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures in the aftermath of the Israel-Lebanon war of summer 2006. The Cross Border Arts Project aimes to use artistic expression to reflect the situation of a society coming out of a major conflict, and to encourage social engagement and dialogue through participation in cultural activities. The first stage of the project took five artists from the Euro-Mediterranean region on a month-long tour of Lebanon, Israel and Palestine where they worked with local artists, writers and community groups.

In the second stage, the Art & Conflict Workshop and round table debate focuses on the role of art and culture in conflict situations. LAF is cooperating on the Cross Border Arts Project with the Anna Lindh Foundation for the Dialogue Among Cultures, Fondazione Pistoletto / Cittadellarte, Solidarité Laïque and Goethe Institut in Beirut.