The Hay Festival Forum is back, and this year it’s taking over the Bishop Arts District like never before! The second weekend of October, expect three incredible days of big ideas, unforgettable stories, and electrifying performances. Deep Vellum is a proud sponsor of the Hay Festival Forum.
Join us for an engaging evening with Mircea Cărtărescu, the internationally acclaimed Romanian author, as he discusses his literary achievements and his creative journey. Cărtărescu, whose works are published in Dallas by Deep Vellum, has captivated readers worldwide with his imaginative and intricately woven narratives.
Cărtărescu’s celebrated works, including the Blinding trilogy and Solenoid, explore themes of memory, surrealism, and the human condition, blending the boundaries between reality and the fantastical. Recently, he was honored with the prestigious Dublin Literary Award, further solidifying his place as one of the most important contemporary writers in European literature.
In this conversation, moderated by Sean Cotter, Cărtărescu will share insights into his writing process, the thematic depths of his novels, and the influences that have shaped his unique literary voice. This event is a rare opportunity to connect with a literary figure whose work continues to inspire and challenge readers around the world.
Mircea Cărtărescu is a writer, professor, and journalist who has published more than twenty-five books. His work has received the Formentor Prize (2018), the Thomas Mann Prize (2018), the Austrian State Prize for Literature (2015), and the Vilenica Prize (2011), among many others. His work has been translated in twenty-three languages. His novel Blinding was published by Archipelago in Sean Cotter's English translation. In 2024, his novel Solenoid, also translated by Cotter, was awarded the Dublin Literary Award.
Sean Cotter is a translator and professor of literature and translation at the University of Texas at Dallas. A previous National Endowment for the Arts Translation Fellow, Cotter is the translator of 11 books, including T.O. Bobe’s Curl and Nichita Stănescu’s Wheel with a Single Spoke and Other Poems, which was awarded the Best Translated Book Award for Poetry. His translation of Magda Cârneci's FEM, a finalist for the PEN Translation Award, was published by Deep Vellum in 2021.