Stories That Endure: Liliana Corobca at the European Writers’ Festival A celebration of European writing.

A powerful and deeply moving presence at this year’s European Writers’ Festival, Liliana Corobca opened the festival’s second day with the panel Personal Histories, introduced by the chair of the festival’s programming panel, European Literature Network director Rosie Goldsmith. Joining writers Fabio Andina (Switzerland) and Marjun Syderbø Kjelnæs (Faroe Islands), in a conversation moderated by broadcaster and artist Bidisha Mamata at the British Library, Liliana brought extraordinary depth, lucidity and emotion to a discussion on memory, history, displacement and survival.

Speaking about censorship, she reflected on the inner freedom that literature can preserve even under oppressive regimes, highlighting that imagination remains the one territory no dictatorship can control. Drawing from her work as both novelist and scholar of censorship, she spoke about silence, fear, exile and resilience, but also about the enduring force of storytelling as a form of resistance and humanity.

The conversation centred on her latest novel, the highly commended Too Great a Sky, translated by Monica Cure and published by Seven Stories Press. Her interventions throughout the panel were widely praised as powerful and profound, and many in the audience described the introductory excerpt she read as prayer-like in its intensity and poetic force.

Alongside Liliana Corobca, Fabio Andina shared the story of his grandfather from Ticino, imprisoned during the Second World War for helping Jews escape persecution, while Marjun Syderbø Kjelnæs spoke about life and identity in the Faroe Islands through intimate and uplifting personal narratives. Together, the authors offered audiences rare perspectives on geographical regions and histories too seldom heard of on the international literary stage.

We were especially happy to see, in the audience, members of the Romanian and Republic of Moldova diaspora, alongside British friends, publishers and authors, who contributed to the warm and vibrant atmosphere of the event. By the end of the conversation, all of Liliana Corobca’s books available at the festival had sold out, with readers queuing to meet her, receive an autograph and continue the conversation.

Many thanks to Liliana Corobca and her fellow authors for such an inspiring start to our Sunday, and congratulations to EUNIC London, British Library and European Literature Network for yet another successful edition of the European Writers’ Festival!

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