Europe Through the Looking Glass

As part of the UCL Festival Culture, the European Institute invites you on a tour of Europe, through the lens of children's books.
Tuesday 5 June - Thursday 7 June, lunchtime

For this year's UCL Festival of Culture, we invite you on a tour of Europe, as seen through children's books from across the continent. 

Three lunchtime sessions will take you to 19th and early 20th century Italy, Soviet Ukraine, Africa as described by a Swede, and a 19th-century journey through France and England. 

Book event

Tuesday 5 June, 1-2pm
Enrico Palandri and Sara Fanelli on Pinocchio (Italy, 1881)

Main Quad Pop Up 102

This first session turns to Carlo Collodi's Italian classic about the adventures of the famous little wooden puppet carved by the old carpenter Geppetto out of a special piece of wood. 

Writer and UCL Professor of Modern European Literature Enrico Palandri is joined by Sara Fanelli, distinguished and distinct creator of picture books, including a most beautiful and witty Pinocchio (winner of the 2004 V&A Illustration Award), as well as Dear Diary and Mythological Monsters of Ancient Greece. Palandri's novels include L'inventore di se stesso (The Inventor of Himself, 2017), Boccalone (1979) and, in English translation, Venice Regained (2015), The Other Evening (2012) and The Way Back (1997). 

Wednesday 6 June, 1-1.45pm
Uilleam Blacker on Oleksandr Dovzhenko's Enchanted Desna (Ukraine/USSR, 1956)
Annika Lindskog on Henning Mankell's Secrets in the Fire (Sweden, 1995)

Main Quad Pop Up 102

Session 2 turns to two young-adult books, by a Ukrainian Soviet film director and by one of Sweden's most famous authors abroad (and not Astrid Lindgren).

Enchanted Desna is an autobiographical novella, named after the river near which Dovzhenko spent his childhood. It is a beautiful reflection on childhood experience and what it means to recall it. Dr Uilleam Blacker is Lecturer in the Comparative Culture of Russia and Eastern Europe. 

Secrets in the Fire novel tells the real-life story of Mozambican landmine victim Sofia Alface, and her indomitable spirit. Annika Lindskog is Lecturer in Swedish (language).

Thursday 7 June, 1.15-2pm
Jann Matlock on Hector Malot's Family-Less (France, 1877)
Carlotta Ferrara degli Uberti on Guglielmo Lattes's Cuore di Israele (The Heart of Israel, Italy, 1908)

Main Quad Pop Up G01

Hector Malot's Sans Famille* ("Family-Less") is the story of a foundling, and English aristocrat, who travels through France and England looking for a family--or some trace of the one he lost. This tear-jerker is a bizarre blend of melodrama and adventure novel. Jann Matlock is Senior Lecturer at the French Department.

The Heart of Israel is a collection of short fictional stories directed primarily to the pupils of Italian Jewish schools. Their didactic aim is obvious; to make the children's hearts beat not only for Italy, the fatherland, but also for Judaism and for the Jewish people. Lattes depicts the two identities as perfectly compatible, and Jews as brave soldiers, good citizens, and models of patriotic and civic virtues. Carlotta Ferrara degli Uberti is a historian, and Lecturer in Italian Studies.

The UCL Festival of Culture consist of a week of events exploring the breadth and depth of research and teaching across the arts, humanities and social sciences at UCL. Comprising talks, workshops and exhibitions, it draws people from across campus and the UK and is a testament to the world-class work of our academics. Bookings for events will open shortly but you can already browse and bookmark the events you're looking forward to attending here.

Book event

Image credits

• Sara Fanelli cover to 'Pinocchio' by Carlo Collodi, published by Walker Books, 2003
• Front cover of 'Secrets in The Fire' by Henning Mankell, published by Allen & Unwin. Obtained from Wikipedia.
• Front cover of 'Sans Famille' by Hector Malot, published by Hachette. Obtained from Feedbooks.