During the CELA Assembly Week in Madrid, an edition of Conversations was organized for all partners and participants of the European network. Professionals from different literary disciplines and from different backgrounds discussed the industry in which they operate. The program was divided into two rounds, both moderated by director of De Nieuwe Oost | Wintertuin Frank Tazelaar, and introduced by video contributions from experts from the literary sector. Conversations is a symposium in English, however, if you prefer to read this introduction in Dutch, please see the translation below the video’s.

The first round focused on the impact of the pandemic on literary infrastructure and the changes, whether lasting or not, it has brought on, with a particular focus on translation. The video contributions were provided by literary translator and International Booker Prize winner Michele Hutchison and Arnaud Pasquali, European Commission policy officer on literary developments.
The panellists of the first round were Michala Čičváková (Internal Cooperation Coordinator at Czech organization CzechLit), Helena Zemljič (writer and editor), Ilija Stevanovski (literary translator, interpreter and teacher) and Ilke Froyen (director of Passa Porta).

The second round, Writing in interesting times, addressed the question of how we, as literary sector, relate to society, what role social projects play and what this means for the role of authors. The video introductions were provided by Anne Bergman-Tahon (director of the Federation of European Publishers) and Noortje Kessels (social projects coordinator at Wintertuin).
The panellists of the second rounds were Martino Gozzi (director of Italian creative writing school Scuola Holden), Javier Sagarna (director of Escuela de Escritores in Madrid and president of the European Association of Creative Writing Programs (EACWP), Lavinia Braniște (noveler, short story and children’s book writer), Vladimir Arsenijević (Artistic Director at KROKODIL Serbian Literature Festival) and Elżbieta Foltyniak (Project Manager at Kraków UNESCO City of Literature).