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UK Mission to the EU's summer celebration
On 27 June 2024, the display featured at the UK Mission to the EU’s summer celebration, which took place at the Residence of the UK Ambassador to the EU, and this year highlighted literature and the arts to over 200 guests. The Brussels units has since been used by the UK Mission as a backdrop for a variety of public diplomacy events.
Passa Porta Festival
The UCL European Institute’s ELML captivated audiences at Brussels’ 2025 Passa Porta Festival, the largest multilingual literary event in the Benelux. Hosted at Muntpunt Library, just steps from the historic La Monnaie Opera House, the exhibition—supported by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO)—invited visitors to experience London through the eyes of European writers, artists, and intellectuals.
On the second day of the festival, UCL European Institute Director Dr. Uta Staiger moderated a panel with authors David Nicholls (One Day) and Peter Terrin (De bewaker), exploring the interplay of physical and imagined spaces in literature. The discussion traversed topics from maps and heterotopias to the evocative power of settings as diverse as Yorkshire, Monte Carlo, and abandoned basements. Reflecting on Bluesky, Dr. Staiger described the conversation as a “wonderfully rich” examination of how place shapes stories, and stories shape place.
