Slovak Euro Stars - with Balla and Ivana Dobrakovova

Join the European Literature Network for a Euro Stars evening with Slovak authors Balla and Ivana Dobrakovova and translator Julia Sherwood in conversation with Rosie Goldsmith. 

Balla, who goes only by his surname, and who has been described as the Slovak Kafka, works at the council's audit office in Nove Zamky, a provincial town in southern Slovakia. He has published nine books, the latest being Vel'ká láska (The Great Love, 2015). His novella V mene otca (In the Name of the Father, 2012) was voted Book of the Year by the Slovak daily SME in 2012 and won both the Anasoft Litera Prize and the Tatrabanka Foundation Art Prize for Literature.

Ivana Dobrakovova graduated from Bratislava's Comenius University with a degree in English and French. Based in Turin, she works as a freelance translator, currently working on Elena Ferrante's Neopolitan novels. Her most recent collection of short stories is Toxo (2013). Ivana has won several literary competitions, including Poviedka 2008, and all three of her books have been shortlisted for the Anasoft Litera Prize.

In the Name of the Father and other stories, by Balla, translated by Julia and Peter Sherwood (Jantar Publishing, 2017), features a nameless narrator reflecting on his life and looking for someone else to blame for a failed relationship with his parents and two sons, his serial adultery, the breakup of his marriage and his wife’s descent into madness. In this edition, the novella is accompanied by three additional short stories, which share its unique mix of dark humour, satire and truth.

Into the Spotlight: New Writing from Slovakia, edited and translated by Magdalena Mullek and Julia Sherwood (Parthian Books, 2017), features the best current Slovak writing on offer from with sixteen authors - including Ivana Dobrakovová's short story "Rosa" and an extract from Balla's novel, The Great Love. They represent the Slovak literary scene across the lines of gender, age, style and subject matter. Most importantly, all of them are actively engaged with today's world in conversation with other contemporary writers and readers.

Tickets for this event cost £5 (redemable against a copy of the book on the evening) and are available in store, online and by phoning 02078512400.