Ioana Pârvulescu Represents Romania at the European Writers Festival

For 48 hours, between 18-19 May, London will become the European capital of literature, as EUNIC London and British Library organise the second edition of the European Writers Festival. The event features 30 emerging and established authors, from Dean Atta (Cyprus), Selcuk Altan (Turkey), Anne Berest (France), Christos Chomenidis (Greece), Emma Dabiri (Ireland), Joanna Elmy (Bulgaria) and Margo Rejmer (Poland) to Iryna Shuvalova (Ukraine). The festival's special guest, Ukrainian author Andrey Kurkov, will be in conversation with The Guardian’s Luke Harding. Romania will be proudly represented by Ioana Pârvulescu, the 2013 winner of the EU Prize for Literature for her book „Viața începe vineri” / "Life Begins on Friday" (Istros Books, 2016). 

You can purchase tickets to the Festival: HERE.

Ioana Pârvulescu's latest book in English translation „Prevestirea” / "Jonah and His Daughter" (Istros Books, 2024) will be discussed on 18 May at 2:30 PM as part of the panel entitled Transformation through Translation. Ioana will be joined by Joanna Elmy (Bulgaria), Jordi Larios (Catalonia), Simone Atangana Bekono (Netherlands). The panel is organised in partnership with English PEN and will be chaired by Will Forrester, Translation and International Manager at English PEN.

As Europe is once again shaken to the core by conflict and upheaval, the second European Writers’ Festival addresses the theme of Transformation, hoping to demonstrate that community, debate, entertainment and storytelling can unite us in creating hope and positive transformation. Bigger, better and braver, the 2024 Festival is a unique opportunity to enjoy some of the best European prose and poetry in English translation over one star-studded weekend.

The European Writers’ Festival is organised by the European Union National Institutes of Culture (EUNIC) London, in partnership with the European Literature Network and the British Library, and with the support of the Delegation of the European Union to the United Kingdom and the European Parliament Liaison Office in the United Kingdom, the European Writers' Festival is again curated by former BBC journalist Rosie Goldsmith, director of the European Literature Network.

The European Writers’ Festival is grateful for the support of University College London, English PEN, Guardian Europe and the Times Literary Supplement. 

You can find details about our partners HERE.

The full programme of the Festival: HERE.

The full list of authors: HERE.

Ioana Pârvulescu was born in Brașov and studied at the University of Bucharest. She graduated in 1983, and went on to complete a PhD in literature in 1999. She teaches modern literature at the same university. She has worked at the literary journal România literară and has translated the works of Maurice Nadeau, Angelus Silesius and Rainer Maria Rilke. She is a member of the Romanian Writers' Association. In 2013, Ioana Pârvulescu won the EU Prize for Literature for her book „Viața începe vineri” / "Life Begins on Friday". In 2018, she won the professional prize at the European Union Prize for Literature writing contest for her work of short fiction "A Voice". She has written four very successful novels, as well as poetry, children's books and essays in her native Romania. Her novels "Life Begins on Friday" (2016) and "Jonah and His Daughter" (2024) are both published by Istros Books, London.