The Confinement Effect on Creative Communities
An interview with Andrew Singer, Director of Trafika Europe
“The hope with the project has been to attract readers – and now listeners – […] to notice and appreciate neighboring literary cultures [...], to celebrate writing which isn’t often translated commercially, and [to] foster a greater sense of openness and belonging together in the very long term.”
Paris Lit Up’s Emily Ruck Keene asks Andrew Singer, Director of Trafika Europe, about doors, directions and digital when it comes to running a creative community in the midst of a pandemic.
About Trafika Europe.
E: For our audience who haven’t yet discovered what Trafika Europe is and does, could you give us a brief explanation and explain how you came to be?
A: Trafika Europe showcases new fiction and poetry from across the 47 countries of Council of Europe, with an online literary journal and other components, such as a calendar of European literary events and a modest European bookshop online. We commission literary art videos, we sometimes host live events, and we’ve just launched Trafika Europe Radio – Europe’s literary radio station, free online.
Trafika Europe was born of a love of European literature, a recognition of its dizzying variety across the many languages and cultures of the European continent, and a realization, in the light of some growing nationalisms and some re-appearing borders, that very little attention and media infrastructure has been given to European culture on the whole.
The hope with the project has been to attract readers – and now listeners – from many countries, in the relatively neutral medium of English language, to notice and appreciate neighboring literary cultures a little more, to celebrate writing which isn’t often translated commercially, and hopefully to help foster a greater sense of openness and belonging together in the very long term.
Closing doors…
E: For Paris Lit Up, we realised we needed to shift our lens when our annual literary tour had to be cancelled. For Trafika Europe, was there a trigger moment that brought the team together to discuss a new strategy? Has Covid 19 scuppered any plans?
A: As with many during this time, naturally our plans have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. We had been expecting to travel with the project around to some European literary festivals in autumn – making live events as well as covering aspects of these festivals on our new Radio, with reporting, podcast interviews and the like. Those plans are of course gone, for now.
…Opening borders.
E: And/or, on the contrary, has confinement spurred new creative projects/collaborations? What have been your particular success stories over this period?
A: We’d been working to launch Trafika Europe Radio for a while, as a new kind of platform for literary communities across Europe. In light of the pandemic confinement, our Radio can only help more, as attention has moved more online, perhaps to connect with a greater audience receptive to podcasts in this time.
We’ve started in our first season with five podcast series, from various partner-producers and ourselves. New episodes premiere in our livestream every Sunday, and there’s a podcast archive where listeners can enjoy episodes from past weeks at their convenience.
We hadn’t been expecting to record episodes remotely, and yet, given that we’ve launched during this time of lockdown, it’s paradoxically increased our scope to be doing so. It’s a joy to connect with writers remotely in this time whom we otherwise might not have got to know and share these conversations online.
Transitioning and repositioning post-epidemic.
E: What have been the biggest challenges for Trafika Europe, and creative communities in general, over the past 3-4 months? Has Trafika Europe evolved over confinement and, if so, what are your next steps?
A: The pandemic and its lockdown has been tragic for many people, and potentially devastating for arts venues, publishers and literary communities. So much of the infrastructure of literature has been put on hold – book printing and distribution, bookshop sales and events, book launches and tours, festivals and book fairs, university symposia, and on and on. In this context, it’s edifying that we are able to help fill in some of that gap with our programming.
Our model has been to offer a greater international infrastructure for literature online – and our own infrastructure is already virtual and decentralized – so these conditions of pandemic have not put any notable dent in our working model.
Our whole idea has been to find virtual concomitants online for the old coffeehouse culture of Europe, to curate some media bandwidth and take advantage of new technologies to make something of that local passion for literature accessible online, to increase the non-commercial joy of it and give it a greater space to connect and flourish. We’re happy to be of service during this time.
The road ahead.
E: Is digital the future for new literature – will the traditional bookstore have a place in a de-confined world?
A: Bookstores continue to hold a treasured place in our communities. At the same time, the push to creative advances online in sharing and promoting literature is exciting! Let’s take back a portion of the digisphere for higher culture and ensure renewed recognition for great literature as a vital part of our emerging shared cultural experience across borders and media, as it has been traditionally on a local level for centuries.
Where can we follow Trafika Europe?
To listen to the Trafika Europe Radio livestream, to browse our podcast archives, and to sign up to stay informed on future shows (and journal issues), please visit: https://trafikaeurope.org/go/radio.
Our Trafika Europe literary journal is here.
We’ve also got a YouTube channel with some exciting animated/art literary videos which we’ve been commissioning, right here.
Participation, partnerships and help is welcome! Inquiries can be addressed to: editor@trafikaeurope.org.
Thank you to Andrew and all the team at Trafika Europe for the work they do.
By Emily Ruck Keene