The past is in the past: a discussion on the present and the future of literature

A few years ago, at an event during the Thessaloniki International Book Fair, The New Yorker’s fearless literary critic James Wood confessed to having the uneasy feeling that literature no longer had the same cultural impact as in the past. With this observation as our starting point, we ask Thomas Meaney, editor of the influential literary magazine Granta, and Merve Emre, literary critic at The New Yorker, some hard, but urgent questions: Is literature nowadays becoming a niche interest for an ever-shrinking minority of people? How can top literary magazines keep the attention of “zoned-out” and distracted readers? Is reading threatened by the glut of juicy storytelling offered by television or is it our addiction to the phone screen that is literature’s true adversary? Join us for a thought-provoking conversation between Thomas Meaney, Merve Emre and Athos Dimoulas, chief editor of popular weekly K Magazine, on the past, present and future of reading and literature.