György Dragomán was born in Targu Mures, Romania, in 1973 as a member of the Hungarian minority of Transylvania. In 1988 he and his family moved to Hungary. Dragomán was awarded a doctorate for his thesis on Samuel Beckett, and he works today as a film critic and translator for a film magazine. He has translated works by Beckett, James Joyce, Ian McEwan and Irvine Welsh into Hungarian. In 2002 he published his prize-winning first novel, A pusztítás könyve. His novel A fehér király (2005, English: The White King) is currently being translated into 15 languages.
Attila Bartis was born in Targu Mures, Romania, in 1968. His family was part of the Hungarian minority in Romania, and his father, a journalist, was subjected to harassment until the family emigrated to Budapest in 1984. Bartis has received several fellowships for his work as a photographer as well as for his literary work, including the Móricz Zsigmond Fellowship for his first novel. Bartis's second novel has been translated into English with the title Tranquility.
Yollarda will bring 48 authors and countless musicians, photographers, filmmakers and artists from eight participating European countries (Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria) to 24 cities throughout Turkey. They will be accompanied by a bookmobile containing the showcased literature, internet terminals and audiovisual resources.
Each Turkish city will host a week-long "EU Festival", with numerous readings, discussions, concerts, exhibitions and film screenings giving local audiences the chance to engage first-hand with European art forms and ideas. By organizing video camps, setting the readings at universities and schools, and offering an interactive blog, the project aims to appeal especially to young people. The tour will culminate in a special gala in Istanbul on April 16, 2010 to mark the city's celebrations as European Capital of Culture 2010.
Continuing in the EU, the tour will then showcase readings by 16 Turkish authors and concerts by Turkish musicians in Sofia, Bucharest, Vienna, Venice, Zurich, and the two other Capitals of Culture 2010, Pécs and Essen. The crowning event will unite all participating European and Turkish authors at a festive gala in Brussels.
Yollarda is funded with a EUR 1.7 million grant from the European Union's Cultural Bridges programme.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI) / Goethe Institute
