April 30: Discussing Solenoid by Mircea Cărtărescu

Friends,

 

Please join us to discuss Mircea Cărtărescu's amazing novel Solenoid.

 

When: Sunday, Apr 30, 2023

5:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada) 

 

Register in advance for this meeting:

https://washington.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIpce6hrT8qHdEfGlXY4lwmguL4N1EWXX2Q

 

We suggest you mark a few favorite passages as you read the book to share as part of our discussion.

 

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Graphic: courtesy of UW Slavic Department's office assistant.

Text/host: Michael Biggins

 

A few pics from the special event with Mircea Cărtărescu and Ileana Marin at the Seattle Public Library - April 5, 2023

 

Mircea Cărtărescu in Seattle - April 5

You are invited, friends!

Later in April, we plan to have a discussion on  Solenoid by offering a hybrid format. But, at this point, let us enjoy this rare opportunity to hear and see the author in person.

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Third Place Books and the Seattle Public Library welcome Romanian author Mircea Cărtărescu—often rumored to win the Nobel Prize for Literature—for a reading of his new novel Solenoid, translated by Sean Cotter. This event is made possible by Cărtărescu's American publisher Deep Vellum, the Romanian Cultural Institute, and the American Romanian Cultural Society based in Seattle.

University of Washington scholar Ileana Marin, co-founder and President of the American Romanian Cultural Society, will join in conversation.

Venue: Seattle Public Library (Central Branch), Microsoft Auditorium, 1000 Fourth Ave., Seattle, WA 98104
Time: 7pm

Registration is required in advance.

"[S]omething of a masterpiece . . . Solenoid synthesizes and subtly mocks elements of autofiction and history fiction by way of science fiction… The mesmerizing beauty of creation, of reality giving way to itself: that, above all, lies behind the doors of Solenoid." —Federico Perelmuter, Astra Hia Magazine

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This event is free and open to the public. This event will include a public signing and time for audience Q&A. Sustain our author series by purchasing a copy of the featured book, or request a hold at your local library.

 

On Mondegreen by Volodymyr Rafeyenko

Related links:

https://books.huri.harvard.edu/books/rafeyenko-mondegreen

NovayaPolsha 

Songs about Death and Love: A Ukrainian Writer on Language and War

Volodymyr Rafeyenko is a Ukrainian writer and literary critic. He hails from eastern Ukraine, being born in 1969 in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, which has been under Russian occupation since 2014. Rafeyenko has written novels, poems and essays. Living in Donetsk he wrote exclusively in Russian until 2014. He left Donetsk for Kyiv when Russia first invaded his city in 2014. During his Kyiv period Rafeyenko wrote in Russian and Ukrainian. He took three years to seriously study and learn Ukrainian. This personal language journey resulted in his masterful novel Mondegreen, written exclusively in Ukrainian. As of February 24, 2022, Volodymyr Rafeyenko writes only in Ukrainian.

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2023 First Book Club Discussion

 

Happy Holiday Season!

 

Over the year 2022

 The Calendar of The Readings from the Heart of Europe (2022)

 

January 30: The Man Who Spoke Snakish, written by Andrus Kivirähk. (translated into English by Christopher Moseley), Grove Press, Black Cat, 2015. With special guest Professor Guntis Šmidchens, director of UW's Baltic Studies Program. 

 

February 27: Soviet Milk, written by Nora Ikstena, translated from the Latvian by Margita Gailitis, Peirene Press, 2019.

 

March 27: The Orphanage, written by Serhii Zhadan, translated by Reilly Costigan‑Humes and Isaac Stackhouse Wheeler. New Haven: Yale University Press.

 

April 24: The Same Night Awaits Us All, written by Hristo Karastoianov, translated from the Bulgarian by  Izidora Angel, Open Letter Books, 2018, with the participation of the author..

 

May 22: Where You Come From, written by Sasa Stanisic, translated by Damion Searls, Tin House, 2021  (postponed) 

 

October 30: The Books of Jacob, written by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Jennifer Croft. Riverhead Books, 2022.

 

November 27: FEM, written by Magda Carneci, translated by Sean Cotter, DEEP VELLUM, 2021.

December 18: Bessarabian Stamps: Stories, written by Oleg Woolf, translated from the Russian by Boris Dralyuk, Phoneme Media, 2015.