This episode of Europarama has been recorded at the University of Roskilde in Denmark, during the workshop fEUtures: science fiction and the future of Europe on 4th June 2019. During the workshop academics and science fiction authors discussed science fiction as a methodological tool in European Studies.

Giuseppe Porcaro had the chance to have a long conversation with Michal Hvorecky and discuss the Europe of the future described in his latest novel, Troll (2017), where trolling factories become pandemic and where the government controls the people by spewing out hate 24 hours a day. You can read an excerpt in English of the book here.

The conversation also touched the role of science fiction as a political tool from the personal experience of Michal since back in the days of Czechoslovakia to the current political environment of contemporary Slovak republic, giving an important testimony for the listeners of Europarama.

Michal Hvorecky is the author of Troll (2017) and many other novels. His books have been translated into German, Polish, Czech and Italian. Translations of his fiction and journalism have appeared in print in Germany, the United Kingdom, Slovenia, Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic. The novel Plush was dramatised and performed in the Prague theatre Na zabradli and in Schauspiel Hannover in Germany. In addition, Hvorecky writes regularly for various newspapers and magazines. He has been awarded several literary prizes and fellowships, including the Literary Colloquium in Berlin, MuseumsQuartier in Vienna, Goethe Institut in Munich, and an International Writing Program in the United States. The author also contributes to Slovak newspapers such as daily SME. His upcoming utopian novel called Tahiti will be published in 2020.

Giuseppe Porcaro is the author of DISCO SOUR, a novel about Europe and democracy in the age of algorithms, among the winners of the Altiero Spinelli Prize for Outrech of the European Union in 2018. Giuseppe is interested in how the intersection between technology and politics is moving towards uncharted territories in the future. He also focuses on narrative-building and political representations in the European Union. He works as the head of communications for Bruegel.