Artem Chapeye will be a guest of the 28th Vilenica International Literary Festival. The fellowship will be awarded at the opening ceremony of the festival on 11 September 2013 in Koper, Slovenia.
Artem Chapeye started writing at the age of 26. His debut An Adventure (2008) is the account of a year and a half spent wandering through the Americas, doing random jobs for a living. The award-winning Travels with Mamayota: In Search of Ukraine (2011) is based on interviews with people all over the country during a two-month motorcycle trip. After a dozen short stories published in the media, Artem Chapeye debuts as a fiction novelist with Red Zone (2013), a social blockbuster set in a near future.
The CEI Fellowship Jury:
Artem Chapeye’s project spreads a topical, socially committed message, endeavouring to shed a light on the critical problem of economic migration in Eastern Ukraine. The issues of economic migrants are universal and Chapeye’s main character is presented as the most contemporary hero of our time, a marginalised Everyman who sprouted from the outskirts of Europe. The story speaks about loneliness and damnation and alerts to violence with a humanistic and topical touch; to the violence, which is latent in Eastern Civilisation and amongst humanity, threatening to erupt sooner or later and wipe us all from the surface of the Earth.
The project is oriented towards the future and the book is based on the acute problem of a globalised world. This might, in itself, sound like a huge cliché. Yet the author’s description of the project and the concept of the book reveal that the broad research he has conducted and his vast experience enable him to meticulously detect and dissect the setting of the narrative, the hero, and the characters connected to the protagonist. With his sophisticated and enticing narrative style, Chapeye’s enables the story to break through local boundaries from the very beginning.
His biography and bibliography reveal Artem Chapeye to be a true authority on the topic on which the novel intends to focus, and that he is an inquisitive explorer, who draws the subject matter for his literary exploits directly from the source, from a close-up view.
Since 2006 the CEI Fellowship for Writers in Residence has been presented by the Central European Initiative in collaboration with the Slovene Writers’ Association, as part of the Vilenica Festival. The Fellowship seeks to encourage cross-border cooperation and promotion in the field of literature for young writers from Central European Initiative member states that are not members of the European Union. The Fellowship, which is endowed with a cash award of 5,000 EUR, is intended to be used for a three-month residence in any CEI member state of the candidate’s choice. During this period the author is expected to work on the project indicated in the application form.
Following the application rules the Fellowship jury including Patrizia Vascotto, president, Italy, Namita Subiotto, vice president, Slovenia, Ludwig Hartinger, Austria, Dragica Potočnjak, Slovenia, Jani Virk, Slovenia selected the CEI fellowship winner for 2013.