WORLD.AUTHOR.JELINEK Event in Warsaw, 19 June 2026
The Interuniversity Research Network Elfriede Jelinek warmly invites you to attend!
The Interuniversity Research Network Elfriede Jelinek of the University of Vienna and MUK and the Elfriede Jelinek Research Centre are organising the “Jelinek Day” in Warsaw, entitled “LANGUAGE & DEMOCRACY”, on 19 June 2026 as part of their international WORLD.AUTHOR.JELINEK event series.
The “Jelinek Day” will take place at the Austrian Cultural Forum in Warsaw.
The international WORLD.AUTHOR.JELINEK event series, organised on the occasion of Elfriede Jelinek’s 80th birthday and consisting of seven “Jelinek Days” held around the world, explores Elfriede Jelinek as a “world author” whose work analyses current global anti-democratic developments with a particular focus on the position of women* and whose analyses have received worldwide attention.
Together with international scholars, translators, and artists, the series demonstrates the global impact of Jelinek’s works, the ways in which they empower women* around the world, and how the political situation concerning women* in each participating country can be compared with that of the other countries involved in the project.
The “Jelinek Day” in Warsaw addresses the relationship between language and anti-democratic politics in the context of authoritarian and nationalistically charged discourse. Particular attention will be paid to how Jelinek’s texts deconstruct totalitarian patterns of language, expose mechanisms of political appropriation, and critically question hegemonic structures. The discussion will explore the extent to which her literary use of language has the potential to reposition language as a space for global critical counter-public discourse and feminist self-empowerment.
Scholars, translators, and artists from Austria, Brazil, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Poland, Romania, and Turkey will take part in keynote lectures, discussions, and a dialogue-based reading by an Austrian and a Polish author (Raphaela Edelbauer and Sylwia Chutnik), exchanging ideas and highlighting Jelinek’s significance for current debates on language, power, and democracy.
Featuring:
Zuzana Augustová, Ruth Bohunovsky, Sylwia Chutnik, Raphaela Edelbauer, Asako Fukuoka, Steffi Hofer, Pia Janke, Agnieszka Jezierska, Bärbel Lücke, Arnold Obermayr, Artur Pełka, Christian Schenkermayr, Monika Szczepaniak, Norbert Christian Wolf,
as well as contributions from the Austrian Library Osijek (Croatia), the Austrian Library Zadar (Croatia), the Austrian Library Opole (Poland), the Austrian Library Bucharest (Romania), the Austrian Library Erzurum (Turkey), and the Austrian Library Szombathely (Hungary).
The event series is supported by the Directorate-General for International Cultural Relations of the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs.
WORLD.AUTHOR.JELINEK
LANGUAGE & DEMOCRACY
Austrian Cultural Forum Warsaw
Próżna 7/9, 00-107 Warsaw
19 June 2026, 9:30 a.m.
Admission is free.
The event will be broadcast via livestream.
Livestream link:
https://univienna.zoom.us/j/
Passcode: jelinek
Further information and the detailed programme:
https://www.ifvjelinek.at/
Please find attached the brochure for the “Jelinek Day” in Warsaw.
Contact: Interuniversity Research Network Elfriede Jelinek of the University of Vienna and the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna, Hofburg, Batthyanystiege, 1010 Vienna
T: +43-1-4277-42238