The Word Express writers will arrive in Istanbul on 30th October and will spend five days giving public readings of their work and meeting other writers at the newly launched Istanbul Tanpinar Literature Festival and the annual Istanbul Book Fair. Visit www.word-express.org for details

Reading Programme

			1st November 14:00 Reading 1 – Nazım Hikmek Kültür Merkezi Poetry reading and projection of Netalie Braun’s film Netalie Braun, Raman Mundair, Adisa Basic, Claudiu Komartin, Aleksandra Dimitrova, Uri Hollander, Yaprak Öz
			1st of November, 18:30 Reading 2 – Cistern Poetry Reading Anahit Hayrapetyan, Katerina Iliopoulou, Marko Pogacar, Adela Greceanu, Milan Dobricic, Uri Hollander, Gokcenur C, Efe Duyan
			3rd of November, 13:00-14:30 Reading 3 –Closing Tüyap Int. Hall Forum Project photos by Anahit Hayrapetyan Owen Martell, Chris Chryssopoulos, Ognjen Spahic Mima Simic, Mirt Komel, Igor Isakovski, Jaklin Çelik, Barış Müstecaplıoğlu

What is Word Express?

Word Express is a new project for literary exchange in South-East Europe, organised by the UK-based Literature Across Frontiers in cooperation with Delta Publishing in Istanbul, Profil Books in Zagreb, Helicon in Tel Aviv and the National Book Centre in Bucharest and other partners based in twelve countries in the region. The project is part of the EU-supported Literature Across Frontiers Programme and of the British Council’s Creative Collaboration Programme which aims to enrich the cultural life of Europe and its surrounding countries and to build trust and understanding across communities by generating dialogue and debate. In a region marked with past and present conflicts, Word Express aims to cross cultural and linguistic boundaries and bring new literary voices of the region to the fore.

The project which started in May 2009, aims to create opportunities for exchange and dialogue by establishing a network of young writers, translators, literary magazines and venues in twelve countries and connecting them with the UK.

Who are the participants?

Some fifty young authors and translators will be eventually involved in the project, exploring the region’s cultural, social and political legacy and meeting their colleagues from the participating countries. In October 2009, twenty of them will form three groups each of which will take a train journey through the Balkans to Istanbul, stopping in different cities where they will take part in readings, debates and translation workshops. On the 30th of October, the writers will arrive Istanbul, where they will spend the last five days of their journey and will participate in the Istanbul Book fair and in the new Istanbul Tanpinar Literature Festival, as well as reading and debating in other venues.

The participants come from the following countries: Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Israel, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey and the United Kingdom – and their work will be translated into the languages of the region and published in literary magazines in each of the participating countries . They will also have the opportunity to work collaboratively on projects combining writing with video and film art, photography and music, to be showcased in the second stage of the project, in 2010.

Read the biographies of the participants

Partner Institutions:

For this project, led by Delta Publishing in Istanbul, the British Council and Literature Across Frontiers work with a range of other partners, including the National Book Centre and the Romanian Cultural Institute in Bucharest and Istanbul, Profil Books in Zagreb, Blesok in Skopje, Sarajevske sveske (Sarajevo Notebooks for Regional Culture), Treci trg in Belgrade, Literaturen Vestnik in Sofia, Young Writers Club in Ljubljana, Endefktirio magazine and literary venue in Thessaloniki, Inknagir literary magazine in Yerevan, and Helicon - the Society for the Advancement of Poetry in Israel and the Helicon Poetry Journal in Tel Aviv.

The project is co-financed by the British Council and Literature Across Frontiers (supported by Culture Programme of the European Union), with kind support from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Macedonia, the Scottish Arts Council and Wales Arts International.

Visit www.britishcouncil.org/creativecollaboration, www.lit-across-frontiers.org and www.word-express.org to find out more.

Who to Contact:

Press Contacts for Word Express:
Alexandra Büchler / Esther Prydderch Literature Across Frontiers (UK) alexandra@lit-across-frontiers.org / esther@walesliterature.org
Zerrin Yilmaz, Delta Publishing (Turkey) zerrinyilmaz@gmail.com

Press Contact for Creative Collaborations:
Aida Berxholi (British Council, Albania) Aida.Berxholi@britishcouncil.org