Connecting Emerging Literary Artists (CELA) is a talent development project for the new generation of European literary voices across 11 different countries.
About
CELA brings together 165 literary artists across 11 European countries, bridging the gaps between emerging talent, the publishing industry, and European audiences.
Published 11 Feb 2026
Notes from Svět Knihy
CELA Job shadowing: Prague – by Marcelina Karcz (KBF)
Published 18 Dec 2025
The Translator is Present
CELA at Wintertuin Festival Nijmegen – by Lena van Tijen (translator SB – NL)
Published 27 Nov 2025
Literature unites
Reflections about FILIT Festival – by Jessica Bilcec (translator UK – RO)
Published 12 Nov 2025
A short moment of manifest destiny
between a writer and his translator – by Iulian Bocai (writer RO) artist-in-residence Passa Porta
Published 12 Nov 2025
New CELA writers selected
We are proud to present the new selection of CELA writers!
Dive into our portals
Discover the work of our translators and writers via eight dynamic portals, each offering a journey into a curated selection of translated stories. These portals offer various interesting themes—identity, migration, belonging, language, magic, and resistance—creating a space for cross-cultural dialogue. By bridging linguistic and national boundaries, CELA’s publications celebrate the richness of European storytelling, offering new perspectives that connect us all today.
Portal of the month
Una declaración de dependencia
Translated from
Dutch
to
Spanish
by Guillermo Briz
Written in Dutch by Rebekka de Wit
9 minutes read
Kraj
Written in Serbian by Jasna Dimitrijević
8 minutes read
De metro
Translated from
Romanian
to
Dutch
by Jan Willem Bos
Written in Romanian by Cătălin Pavel
9 minutes read
Een paar verdwaalde minuten
Translated from
Romanian
to
Dutch
by Charlotte van Rooden
Written in Romanian by Cristina Vremes
10 minutes read
All portals
Time After Time
Explore or alter the physics, the histories and the inevitability of time
Through the Rabbit Holes
Wander into magical realms and fantastical worlds where reality is constantly redefined or questioned
Mindbenders
Provoke your survival skills. Expose yourself to danger, exciting mysteries and mindbending realities
Ourselves and Others
Explore identity and connection through the body, family dynamics and self-reflection
Should I Stay or Should I Go
Take a journey through the tension between staying and leaving, journeys of personal growth and travelogues
A Change is Gonna Come
Reflect on themes of resistance, power dynamics, and the insistence on transformation for another now
Where the Wild Things Grow
Explore our connections with ecology, rituals, the cosmos, and the pressing climate challenges of our time
Alone With the World
Portraits of the struggle to find belonging in a world that feels unfamiliar