Asylum or Fortress: Lecture by Peter Zilahy

Asylum or Fortress? Could this be the biggest crisis Europe has faced since World War Two?

We have seen refugees in the media in different contexts, walking on the road in in Serbia and Macedonia, attempting to land or swept ashore in Turkey and Italy, being beaten with sticks in Greece, showered with rubber bullets in Spain, clashing with French and Hungarian riot police at newly-built barbed-wire border fences. And most recently in the context of terrorism.

The illusion of European solidarity has dissolved in a puff of air. While tens of thousands of volunteers went off their ways to help people on the road, polls show the majority of Europeans are not in favor of letting large number of asylum-seekers settle in the continent. How can a divided EU face this new challenge? Could the migration trigger a new rise for the European far-right? Refugees, migrants, asylum-seekers, immigrants. The lecture will explore where Europe may be going beyond the words.

Péter Zilahy is one of Hungary’s most exciting, diverse writers. His dictionary novel, The Last Window Giraffe, has been translated into 22 languages. It has won multiple awards, among them ‘The Book of the Year Prize’ in Ukraine where it directly influenced the Orange Revolution. Zilahy also did a Moth Mainstage Show at Symphony Space and he was on Anthony Bourdain’s "Parts Unknown" on CNN recently.

This talk and Q&A will be followed by a wine and cheese reception.

Sponsored by the Spencer Barnett Experimental Film Fund and the Sarah Lawrence, Filmmaking, Screenwriting & Media Arts Program