EUROPEAN LITERATURE DAYS 2020 – NYC
European Literature Days introduces new and diverse European books that are not to be missed! Authors from Austria, Italy, the Czech Republic, Malta, and Romania will introduce incredible new works translated into English.
In this not-to-be-missed multi-cultural celebration, this exclusive podcast mini-series hosted by Trafika Europe brings the unique spirit and vibes of European café culture to you wherever you are.
European Literature Days is a cooperation of the EUNIC cluster NYC and includes the Arts Council Malta in NYC, the Austrian Cultural Forum New York, the Italian Cultural Institute of New York, the Czech Center, and the Romanian Cultural Institute.
In the podcast supported by the Austrian Cultural Forum New York and presented on 19 November, Vienna-based author Anna Goldenberg speaks with her translator Alta Price about the English version of “Versteckte Jahre” (Zsolnay, 2018) which was published as “I Belong to Vienna” by New Vessel Press in June 2020.
Synposis of I Belong to Vienna:
In 1942, Anna Goldenberg’s great-grandparents are deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp. Hans, their elder son, survives by hiding in an apartment in the middle of Nazi-controlled Vienna. But this is no Anne Frank-like existence; teenage Hans passes time in the municipal library and buys standing room tickets to the Vienna State Opera. He never sees his family again. Goldenberg reconstructs this unique story in magnificent reportage. Although they tried living in the United States after World War Two, both grandparents eventually returned to Vienna. The author, too, has returned to her native Vienna after living in New York herself, and her fierce attachment to her birthplace enlivens her engrossing biographical history. A probing tale of heroism, resilience, identity and belonging, marked by a surprising freshness as a new generation comes to terms with history’s darkest era.
“A beautiful meditation on love and survival … explores an abundance of complex themes, doing so with sensitivity and clear-sighted language that has been deftly translated by Alta L. Price into prose possessing of a rhythmic ease … There is a luminous quality to this memoir, something that marks it out as different: an incredible story on the one hand, but also a moving and extremely fitting tribute to the bravery and generosity often overlooked by history. A book that ought to be read as widely as possible.”
—The Monthly Booking
Listeners can sign up with their email at Trafika Europe Radio to stay informed on upcoming shows!
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Anna Goldenberg, born in 1989 in Vienna, studied psychology at the University of Cambridge and journalism at Columbia University. She worked at the Jewish newspaper The Forward in New York before returning to Vienna where she now writes as a freelance journalist.
Alta L. Price translates from Italian and German, and was awarded the 2013 Gutekunst Prize. Her publications include work by Corrado Augias, Dana Grigorcea, Jürgen Holstein, and Martin Mosebach. She is co-curator of the 2020-2021 edition of Festival Neue Literatur.