CELA – Connecting Emerging Literary Artists

We are back from the introduction meeting of the European project CELA.

CELA empowers emerging writers, translators and literary professionals across Europe.

CELA offers writing, publishing and marketing strategies for talented creators in a changing literary environment.

This EU-funded cooperation project brings together 6 countries: Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Spain, The Netherlands and Romania, and 7 partners: Booktailors, Escuela de Escritores, Cinepub, Huis deBuren, Passa Porta, Pisa Book Festival and Wintertuin.

CELA is a unique programme, it gathers literary talents in various fields – from writing to translating, to editing – to develop the careers of tomorrow’s internationally acknowledged authors and translators. CELA invests in a literary talent development infrastructure that bridges the gaps between literary talents, the publishing industry and the European public. It offers 18 emerging authors, 24 emerging translators, 6 emerging literary professionals and 7 literary organisations a two-year trajectory of training, tools and network.

The purpose of CELA is to offer European context to a new generation of literary creators, to enable intensive cooperation between talented European writers, and to improve the sound of continental voices in a choir dominated by large singers. From 2017 onwards, the participants will tackle some of the challenging realities of our age – from increasingly sharp divisions within Europe to a changing book publishing industry – and place them in perspective, share their work, and bridge the gaps.