Pavlos Matesis and
Nella Bielski
As part of the South Bank Centre’s Foreign Bodies series, featuring the best contemporary writing in translation, Pavlos Matesis and Nella Bielski will be appearing at the Voice Box, Royal Festival Hall, on Wednesday 17 November at 7.30pm, for readings from their novels. The event will feature bi-lingual readings and Nella Bielski will be joined by her translator, Lisa Appignanesi. Pavlos Metisis’s translator, Fred A. Reed, will not be in attendance, however, Pavlos will instead be joined by the actress Fiona Shaw, who will read from his latest novel.
Pavlos Matesis’s latest novel, The Daughter (2002), is an international best-seller in nine languages. Set in Greece during the German occupation and the civil war, the novel examines how far a young mother will go to protect her family, and the consequences she suffers for her actions when the war is over.
Pavlos Matesis was born in Greece and now lives in Athens. He is an award-winning novelist, playwright and translator. His numerous translations into modern Greek include: Shakespeare, Brecht, Lorca, Arthur Miller and David Mamet.
Nella Bielski’s appearance at the Voice Box coincides with the publication in November this year of her new novel, The Year is ’42. Set in the midst of war-torn Europe, the novel follows the fate of three protagonists. In Germany at the centre of power, and in occupied Paris, Hans and Karl, two German officers and now estranged friends, confront their own deaths. And in Kiev, where the fighting has reached it’s pitch, Katia, a doctor, clings to life as she awaits her husband’s return from Stalin’s labour camps.
Nella Bielski was born in the Ukraine and studied philosophy at Moscow University. She now lives in Paris and writes in French. Her previous novels include: Oranges for the Son of Alexander Levy and After Arkadia. Her play, A Question of Geography was staged by the RSC.
Wednesday 17 November 2004, 7.30pm
The Voice Box
Royal Festival Hall
South Bank Centre
Tickets £6 concs £4
South Bank Centre Box Office 08703 800 400
Book Online:
www.rfh.org.uk
For further press information, please contact Louisa Mullan on 020 7921 0985, e: lmullan@rfh.org.uk or Deborah Ryan on: 020 7921 0888, e: dryan@rfh.org.uk.
The South Bank Centre (SBC) each year presents nearly 1,000 paid performances of music, dance, literature and other events and more than 300 free foyer events; four major art exhibitions at the Hayward Gallery as well as National Touring Exhibitions in more than 100 venues around the country, and attracts more than 3 million visitors.
close