Europäische Literaturtage

The ELit Literaturehouse Europe establishes an observatory for European contemporary literature focusing chiefly on: research, discussion and publishing results concerning literary trends across Europe, as well as the inter-cultural communication of literature within Europe and the dissemination of literature among the diverse cultural spaces within Europe. It enables writers to introduce their works in other linguistic areas and to discover new opportunities for publishing based on digital media. It develops innovative forms of communicating literature for young people from different south eastern European countries of the Danube Region Strategy who get to know Europe’s shared heritage through working on a literary subject and producing a collectively authored ebook.

ELit Literaturehouse Europe regularly organizes these events: European literature youth meetings, European writers’ reading tours sessions, workshops for young writers and – the annual highlight – the European Literature Days in the Wachau/Lower Austria. ELit Literaturehouse Europe promotes literary transfer in Europe with guest appearances by European writers in other countries. Particular emphasis is on the dissemination of the multilingual aspects of European literature. ELit Literaturehouse Europe organizes reading tours by writers as well as workshop sessions in Wachau. It focuses on inviting EU Literature Prize winners as well as hosting events for them in European partner organization countries in Ljubljana, London, Budapest, Paris and Hamburg.

At the European Literature Days successful writers meet their prospective counterparts in workshop sessions. They relate their experiences of writing, publishing, networking, their approach to readers and media and engage in dialogue with the young adults about writing, publishing, networking and meeting readers as well as the new opportunities and risks of digital media. Thanks to its workshops in London, Budapest, Hamburg and Ljublujana, ELit makes it possible for young writers to benefit from digital media for publication and transnational exchange also in other European countries.

ELit Literaturehouse Europe headquarters is in Wachau/Lower Austria, where it facilitates networking for literary experts, centres and events as well as setting up cooperative programmes within Europe. It upgrades the professionalitiy of it‘s work and currently sets up a programme for writers and translators-in-residence. The European Literature Days take place in Spitz, a little village in Wachau, an outstanding cultural landscape and UNESCO World Heritage Centre.

At the website www.literaturehouse.eu and trough ebook- and book on demand publications ELiT Literaturehouse Europe will introduce literary trends in Europe and publish and discuss texts on European issues in cultural policy.