On Friday, Parys was set to take part in a literary debate in the Belgian capital together with the likes of Hélène Bukowski from Germany and Kateřina Tučková from the Czech Republic.
The panel discussion, entitled “When the Novel is Permeated by the Breath of European History,” was expected to delve into the role of literature in European history and explore the function of culture as a democratic instrument, according to the Polish Institute in Brussels.
Interviewed by public broadcaster Polish Radio's Brussels correspondent, Parys said before the event that she would address the concerns and anxieties of Europeans, "an issue that is not being openly debated these days."
Parys told Polish Radio's Beata Płomecka: “As a person who has written a great deal about World War II and all the tensions in Europe, I’d like to communicate a message of comfort and peace.”
Born in the Polish Baltic city of Gdańsk in 1971, Parys emigrated with her family to Germany when she was 12.
She graduated from Humboldt University in Berlin.
Her 2014 novel The Magician won her the European Union Literature Prize in 2015.
Her latest novel, The Prince, focuses on the rise of nationalist movements in present-day Germany.
In her interview with Polish Radio, Parys said that having lived in Germany for over four decades, she experienced the fall of the Berlin Wall and life under two different political systems.
“I think my books reflect all that I went through and what I managed to observe from the vantage of a mature woman and writer,” she added.
First held over 50 years ago, the annual Brussels Book Fair (Foire du Livre de Bruxelles) is the number one literary event in Belgium.
(mk/gs)
Source: IAR, instytutpolski.pl