FELT 2025: European writers inspire readers in Tirana

In a small hall at the National Puppet Theatre, a group of children talked about a spoiled princess, an astronaut, and a journey to save the heart of the moon. A mother tree was among the characters appearing in their fairy tales. After discussing every title, every character, and every synopsis, they voted, each choosing by majority, as in a genuine democracy. Young, free, full of dreams and blessed with boundless imagination, these talented children took part in a creative writing workshop within the framework of the Festival of European Literature, organised by the European Union Delegation to Tirana, held from 2-6 December 2025.

Learning the guidelines and basic structures of literary writing, the children were trained by Fighting Words to express their imagination and shape it into stories. While the Irish organisation taught children to write, other writers enriched FELT by showing how to read across eras, countries, lives, and characters, and how to discover the various spaces and concepts through which societies can be observed, understanding how events shape people, and how people's acts of courage or fear shape events.

EU in Albania

Through light and shadow, writers' works and their talks revealed how literary voices from across Europe have guided humanity through reflection, empathy, and wisdom, at times anticipating what lies ahead. The illustrated book R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) by Karel Čapek, explored with high school students by the Czech Albanologist Přemysl Vinš, focused on how this science-fiction play projected future possibilities and offered glimpses of the world to come as early as 1920, forecasting the role of artificial intelligence.

Through readings, discussions, artistic performances, and interactive sessions, the festival encouraged dialogue on contemporary literature while highlighting themes of identity, history, and societal change. Representing thirteen EU Member States, twelve authors, in seven locations, connected with Albanian readers, visiting high schools and universities to discuss literature as a language of peace, where characters argue and express their views, showcasing not only literary contexts but human realities, and presenting the public with all perspectives.

EU in Albania

Through the works of Maja Haderlap, Philippe Collin, and Ena Katarina Haler, audiences confronted the consequences and traumas of war. Poems by Wisława Szymborska, read by her secretary, Michał Rusinek, brought to light her unique voice and her concerns about displacement. He recited verses not only from Utopia but also from notes found in her notebooks:

"I don't know what it's like to be expelled, to find yourself in a place with a different language, to quickly learn the word thank you, if someone helps you; the word sorry if someone treats you unfairly; to never be too hungry when offered food," read Rusinek.

Literature, at once art and engagement, taste and conscience, the architecture of thought and social awareness, a space of longing and a quest for identity and coexistence, was articulated through the works of other writers.

EU in Albania

"Literature is the written life. You have to live moments and 'steal lives', because your own is not enough," said Spanish writer Begoña Oro. French writer Philippe Collin, while addressing the Second World War, elaborated further on this approach, speaking of the islands we build around ourselves, to protect ourselves or to avoid seeing. "Literature is the experience of humanity; to read literature means to understand the other, or the others," he emphasised.

Describing a vivid Greece through personal memory, urban landscapes, and unfinished belonging, Christos Kythreotis explored themes of redefining home and time. "As a writer, I am interested in the concept of time - how we run after it, and how time runs after us," he said. Italian writer Nadia Terranova invited the audience to revisit Italy's landscapes: "My characters emerge from the landscape; I always begin with the place where the stories unfold, imprinted in time and space, for it is from there that the characters take shape," she remarked.

Albanian literature entered the festival, from silence to thought, through the voices of those who dreamed of freedom during communism, and young writers who not only breathe life into the dreams of their predecessors but also envision a literature that advances European values of freedom, rights, diversity, and an inclusive future for everyone.