UPDATE: due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis the International Book Festival in Budapest has had to be cancelled.

I am very excited to have been invited to represent the United Kingdom at this year’s European First Novel Festival.

The European First Novel Festival will be held for the 20th time within the frame of the renowned International Book Festival, to introduce talented young authors from the members of the European Union. This event is a joint effort of 28 (for the time being) EU member countries.

The International Book Festival Budapest hosts about 100 authors from 25 countries, more than 400 Hungarian authors, scientists, and artists and offers a wide range of cultural programs, such as meetings with authors, signings sessions, book premiers and presentations, round table discussions, concerts, theatre performances, exhibitions and films. It is home to the Budapest Grand Prize, which has been presented to well-known authors such as Salman Rushdie, Umberto Eco and Bret Easton Ellis, as well as Nobel Prize winning authors Günter Grass, Mario Varga Llosa, Orhan Pamuk, and Imre Kertész, among others.