On 16 and 17 May, an award-winning novelist Zoë Strachan came to the Netherlands to take part in the European Literature Night in Amsterdam, together with 11 other European writers and poets. The writers and poets talked about librarians and readers, about accidental encounters with books and people, about the first library they ever visited, about nostalgia for paper and dust, endless rows of books on shelves, the thrill of digital texts available worldwide; about the past and future of reading. The European Literature Night was held in the Brakke Grond on 16 May and in the Amsterdam Public Library (OBA) on 17 May. Both days were organised by EUNIC, the network of European national institutes for culture and national bodies engaged in cultural activities, together with the OBA.
Zoë Strachan is an award-winning novelist who teaches Creative Writing at University of Glasgow. Her work has appeared in various magazines and anthologies and been broadcast on BBC Radio, and performed at the Citizen’s Theatre and Òran Mór. Her short opera Sublimation toured Scotland with Scottish Opera before going to Cape Town. Zoë has an academic background in archaeology. She is a Patron of the Imprint Book Festival in East Ayrshire Libraries and a Director of Glasgow Women’s Library, winner of numerous awards and the only Accredited Museum in the UK dedicated to women's lives, histories and achievements.