An Overview:

Europa 28 is a brilliant anthology of essays, short stories and play excerpts from women writers, artists, scientists, entrepeneurs and dreamers. In this anthology, one woman  from each of the EU states, including the UK, shares their vision for the future of Europe, hence the title Europa 28.

Who would have thought a book on what Europe means to 28 different women would serve as a form of “escapism” from the world we are currently living in.

In her introduction Laura Bates says, “to take stock of where we are, and to move forward, we need new ways of seeing the world around us. New ways to look at Europe and the world beyond, and a willingness to forge new ways of being in that world.” That is certainly true of Europe but these words could also be applied to the world we wake up to now in April 2020.

Czech Republic:

Rychliková is a Czech film-maker, journalist and publicist. In  her essay, Europe Must be for the 99 Per Cent, I learnt a great deal about the Czech Republic:

The Czech Republic joined the European Union on 1 May 2004. Over 50 per cent of the country’s population took part in the referendum, with no less than 70 per cent of them voting for accession. However, after fifteen years of EU-citizenship, there is growing mistrust in the entire project. There has been a lot of talk lately about the failure of the post-communist world to transform itself into a classic Western democracy.

She quite rightly points out that not everyone is as invested in the democratic process, “someone can’t feed their family and pay the rent for a basic flat despite going to work every day, how should this person feel about democracy?”

Author: Apolena Rychliková

Apolena Rychliková is a Czech film-maker, journalist and publicist.

Translator: Julia Sherwood

Along with her husband Peter, Julia Sherwood is a translator of literary fiction as well as film scripts, essays, journalism and academic texts. Between them, they cover a range of Central and East European languages – Czech, Hungarian, Polish, Slovak and Russian.

Book Details:

Publisher: Comma Press

Publishing Date: 12/03/2020

A bit about me!

A bit about me, my name is Jess Andoh-Thayre. I am from Brixton, South London. I currently live in Cambodia. Before living here in Cambodia, I lived in Tanzania with my husband, who is a diplomat. I have also lived in Chile and Spain. I am a French, Spanish and English as an Additional Language (EAL) teacher. I recently qualified as a SENCo (Special Educational Needs Coordinator). After taking three years off to have a baby in a pandemic and also retrain, I have just returned to work as an Elementary Learning Support Teacher.