Next Europa Editions’ “Our Brilliant Friends” Event Continues to Benefit #SaveIndieBookstores

The next of Europa Editions’ “Our Brilliant Friends” after-dinner book club and watch party series, to be held April 20 at 9:00 p.m. ET on Zoom, will spotlight the art of translation and begin with a reading from Elena Ferrante’s new novel, The Lying Life of Adults (publishing September 1, 2020).

Tickets will once again be sold for a suggested donation of $5 and all proceeds will benefit the #SaveIndieBookstores campaign, which was launched on April 2 with the support of James Patterson, Reese’s Book Club, the American Booksellers Association, and the Book Industry Charitable Foundation.

For the April 20 event, the New Yorker “Comma Queen” Mary Norris will join International Booker Prize-winning translator Jennifer Croft; Sam Bett, winner of the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission (JUSFC) Prize for the Translation of Japanese Literature; and “star Italian translator” Ann Goldstein to talk language, linguistics, translation, international literature, and the enduring international success of Elena Ferrante.

The reading and discussion will be followed by a “watch party.” Participants are invited to tune in to HBO and watch the most recent episode of the HBO adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan quartet together. The event will be co-hosted by Europa Editions, the Center for the Art of Translation, Words Without Borders, Community Bookstore (Brooklyn, New York), Solid State Books (Washington, DC), and Skylight Books (Los Angeles, California).