09.05.2006
Café d’ Europe

Am 9.Mai, ab 12 Uhr, findet im Café Ianos 24, Stadiou Street, das 'EU-Kulturevent' CAFE D'EUROPE statt.

Stories of Europe – Participating Authors/ International P.E.N.

Country - Town Author
Austria - Vienna Karl-Markus Gauß / Adolf Holl / Josef Winkler
Belgium – Brussels Geert van Istendael
Bulgaria – Sofia Mirela Ivanova
Cyprus - Nikosia Maria Avraamidou
Czech Republic - Prague Vaclav Havel
Denmark – Kopenhavn Cæcilie Lassen
Estonia - Tallinn Mihkel Mutt
Finland – Helsinki Anni Sumari
France - Paris Christiane Singer
Germany - Berlin Eva Demski
Greece - Athens Sotiris Dimitriu
Hungary - Budapest Gabor Görgey / Zsuzsanna Erdély
Ireland - Dublin Edna O'Brien (not confirmed)
Italy - Rome Giovanni Russo
Latvia - Riga Knuts Skuujenieks
Lithuania - Vilnius Antanas Gailius
Luxemburg - Luxembourg Guy Rewenig
Malta - Valletta Gorg Mallia
Netherlands, The - Amsterdam Jan Baeke
Poland - Warsaw Christoph Lipinski
Portugal - Lisboa Casimiro de Brito
Romania - Bucharest Gheorghe Schwartz
Sweden - Stockholm Daniel Sjölin
Slovac Republic - Bratislava Lubomir Dobrovoda
Slovenia - Ljubljana Ales Debeljak
Spain - Madrid Miguel Veyrat
UK – London Timothy Garton Ash


Brussels, April 26th 2006 - The Institute of the Regions of Europe-IRE (www.ire.or.at), with the support of the Austrian EU Council Presidency, hereby announces the organization of Café d’Europe – a European wide cultural project for the celebration of Europe Day on May 9th.



More than any other institution, cafés reflect every-day communication, are an expression of local culture and at the same time a symbol of our common European heritage.



Café d’Europe will be an open forum for the youth of Europe to discuss and exchange views and visions. On May 9th, on Europe Day, literature will help to promote the dialog with the citizens of the EU member-states, since in 27 Cafés d’Europe across 27 European capitals 27 authors, but simple European citizens as well, will be writing stories about Europe.



For that reason Jiri Grusa, International P.E.N. President, has invited 27 well-known authors to let themselves be inspired by the theme „The seduction of Europe“ and put down on paper their personal thoughts in a narrative about Europe. 27 original stories will create a book entitled „Stories of Europe“, which will in a unique way put forward the cultural diversity of Europe and ist citizens, from Dublin to Athens, from Lisbon to Riga.



Classic authors, such as Václav Havel in Prague, Eva Demski in Berlin, Christiane Singer in Paris, Jan Baeke in Amsterdam, Timothy Garton Ash in London, Sotiris Dimitriou in Athens and many others, will on May 9th in the Café d’Europe of their country personally present their literary view on Europe, thus initiating a creative discussion and dialog with the audience.



„The best way to awaken affections for Europe is to personally discover the emotional and cultural diversity that marks us“, said Austrian State Secretary, Dr. Hans Winkler.



At the same time Café d’Europe invites all citizens to express themselves in a creative way on May 9th through writing their own „Story about Europe“. All contributions will be collected and the best among them will be published as part of an anthology.



In Greece the Café d’Europe will be the café IANOS in the centre of Athens (24, Stadiou Str.), where on Tuesday 9th May Europe Day will be celebrated and the greek contribution to the book „Stories of Europe“ will be officially presented by the author Mr. Sotiris Dimitriou. Those who will take part in Café d’Europe will have the exclusive chance to read the newspaper „The Europe Journal“, a special edition of the historical German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (F.A.Z.), in which the reports of the 27 journalists, who are cooperating with the newspaper in the EU member-states, will be collected. This festive newspaper will be published in English and in German, while at the same time it will be circulated along with the every-day edition of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.



Finally, those who will visit Café d’Europe on May 9th will have the possibility to taste a selection of traditional representative sweets from the 27 EU countries.


www.cafeeurope.at