European Literature Night: Transformation

Europe – and the rest of the world – is currently undergoing profound change. The (geo)political landscape is shifting, raising questions about what Europe is. During European Literature Night, we invite seven authors from across the continent to reflect on what it means to transform.

Europe will have to define its culture, its values and its future, a future that will hopefully be shaped and informed by taking into account as many voices as possible. It is the very reason the network of European national cultural organisations, EUNIC Netherlands, is inviting seven authors from across Europe to De Balie in Amsterdam for the annual European Literature Night. In their work, these authors explore what transformation means, within literature, within society and within themselves.

Małgorzata Lebda (Nowy Sącz, Poland, 1985) is well-known as a poet, with six collections to her name. Among other major accolades, she won the prestigious Wisława Szymborska Award in 2022. Voracious, the winner of Empik’s Best Newcomer in Poland and shortlisted for the Conrad, and Angelus and NIKE Prize, is her debut novel. Małgorzata Lebda is also a photographer and marathon runner. She is at the European Literature Night at the invitation of Polish Culture NL.

Carolina Pihelgas (Talinn, Estonia, 1986) is an Estonian writer, poet, translator, and editor. Her collection of prose poems Valgus kivi sees (The Light within the Stone, 2019) received the Estonian Cultural Endowment Award for the best poetry book of the year. In 2020, she was appointed Tartu’s City Writer Laureate. The author of seven collections of poetry published her first novel Vaadates ööd (Watching the Night) in 2022. The short novel The Cut Line is her second work of prose and her first work to be translated into English and published in February 2026. She is at the European Literature Night at the invitation of the Estonian Embassy in the Netherlands.

Artem Chapeye (Kolomyia, Ukraine, 1981) is a Ukrainian writer, translator, reporter and traveller. As a translator of Mahatma Gandhi’s texts and believer in non-violent political change, he took up arms and now defends Ukraine. He is author of both creative non-fiction and popular fiction. Four of Chapeye’s books were shortlisted for the BBC Ukraine Book of the Year Award: Journey with “Mamayota in Search of Ukraine” in 2011, “The Red Zone” (his debut in fiction) in 2014, “Overrun” in 2015, and “The Ukraine” in 2018. He is at the European Literature Night at the invitation of the Ukrainian Embassy.

Iulian Bocai (Oltenië, Romania, 1986) studied Comparative Literature at the University of Bucharest. He has a PhD in intellectual history. He has published five books and dabbles both in literature and nonfiction. His first novel, Ciudata și înduioșătoarea viață a lui Priță Barsacu (The Weird and Endearing Life of Priță Barsacu) won multiple national and international awards and came out in a Dutch translation in 2025 by Charlotte van Rooden. Before going into writing, he spent a decade translating mainly novels and children books from English, French and German into Romanian and has seen literature from both sides of the fence, working both as a writer and editor/translator. He likes writing better. He is at the European Literature Night at the invitation of the Romanian Cultural Institute for the Benelux.

Amanda Michalopoulou (Athens, Greece, 1966) is the author of eight novels, three short story collections, a theater play and a novella. She has been a contributing editor at Kathimerini in Greece and Tagesspiegel in Berlin. She is a winner of the Revmata Award (1994), the Diavazo Award for her novel Jantes (1996) and the Academy of Athens Prize for her short story collection “Bright Day” (2013). The American translation of her book I’d Like won the International Literature Prize by NEA in the US (2008) and the Liberis Liber Prize of the Independent Catalan Publishers (2012). Her stories and essays have been translated into twenty languages. Her novels Why I killed my best friend and God’s Wife, were short-listed for the ALTA National Translation Award in the US. Her short story Mesopotamia was selected for Best European Fiction 2018 (Dalkey Archive). She is at the European Literature Night at the invitation of the Greek Embassy in the Netherlands.

Dmitrij Kapitelman (Kiev, Ukraine, 1986) came to Germany with his family at the age of eight as a “contingent refugee”. He studied political science at Leipzig University and graduated from the German School of Journalism in Munich. He works as a freelance journalist. He is at the European Literature Night at the invitation of the Goethe Institute.