Festival
European Literature Days 2024
7 to 10 November 2024Welcome to the European Literature Days 2024!
The urban and rural divide is often described as a conflict of our time. This conflict is associated with images of dynamic, tolerant city-dwelling cosmopolitans and mostly elderly residents left behind in rural areas. The vibrant centre and decaying periphery? Do we live in a kind of divided world? The European Literature Days 2024 introduce international authors whose narratives tell stories about urban and country life – about metropolitan areas and secluded backwaters, smart cities and village communities, the local population and migrants, headstrong protagonists and travellers between the city and country. Their stories about different approaches to life and types of communities initiate the question about how the innovative as well as conflictual current developments will change life in future.
One of the many attempts to explain the current political divide between urban and rural life is that the local village represents the losers of digital modernization and takes revenge on the globally oriented metropolis with scepticism towards science, irrationalism and anti-democratic attitudes. At the latest since Donald Trump’s presidency, the rural community is considered as the symbol of a reactionary revolt that is reflected in election results. The sociologist Lukas Haffert observes how vibrant cities attract well-educated, high-earning and tolerant people and this optimistic elite contrasts with a rural population that feels its values and established rights are threatened and is at odds with the economic and cultural change of the present day. In Haffert’s view, it’s about the winners and losers of economic modernization processes, about the winners and losers of the digital knowledge economy and thus about the consequences of the transition from the industrial to the knowledge-based society. The city and countryside are alienated from each other. Because of the dominance of the urban lifestyle, the country people believe they are also culturally left behind. Hence, the rural and urban milieus are two sides of the dynamic of an ever-widening polarization. On the other hand, not only is the rural population escaping to the city, but due to rising costs more and more city-dwellers are moving to the smaller towns and villages within commuting distances of the metropolises. Young families, in particular, are escaping from the city to be able to afford homes and day-to-day living, which in turn leads to the urbanization of rural regions.
In literary fiction, since the late 18th century the novel has created a cultural history of urban life as well as country living, escape to the country as well as urbanization, which went hand in hand with industrialization. It told a story of oppression as well as opening, of renewals and regressions, emancipation, repression as well as escape. Today, we talk about the fourth industrial revolution, about the reorganization of working and daily life due to digital and even intelligent technologies. In this context, the European Literature Days 2024 introduce books of contemporary literature whose main focus is the city and country, progress, regression, conflict as well as the search for new forms of living.
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This year the European Literature Days again welcomes festivalgoers to Krems an der Donau for a weekend of debate with authors and philosophers about a topical theme. For those who cannot travel to Krems, the specially themed readings, talks and dialogues are available to watch live from home. Participants in Krems can also attend readings, literature talks and concerts in the Klangraum Minoritenkirche. This attractive forum invites us to feel inspired, to share our interest in literature and to meet international guests. In cooperation with kulturkrems, a walking tour followed by a wine tasting combines the discovery of cultural attractions and culinary specialities with the opportunity to meet the guest authors. Together with the Festival Glatt&Verkehrt, Words and Sounds (Worte und Töne) showcases the best of literature, music and dramatic art. This year’s highlight and finale is again the Sunday literary and musical matineé in honour of David Grossman, the current prizewinner of the Austrian Book Trade’s Honorary Award for Tolerance in Thought and Action.
In cooperation with the eljub European Youth Encounters, the Jugend Kulturraum Krems and the Youth Section of Lower Austria, another diverse programme of readings and workshops also takes place in regional schools.
We warmly invite you to join us!
Walter Grond
Artistic Director of the European Literature Days