Literature Across Frontiers just confirmed a series of UK engagements for 2026 and I’m genuinely excited about this.
June: LAF Intercultural Forum in Cardiff. Keynote reading plus workshops on writing across languages. Co-hosted with Literature Wales and Cardiff University. This is exactly the kind of work I want to be doing: practical craft sessions with writers navigating multiple languages, not abstract theory about intercultural dialogue.
Autumn: guest tutor at National Centre for Creative Writing in Norwich. Two half-day sessions on bilingual prose writing with emerging translators and writers. Norwich. The National Centre. Teaching the exact thing I spent years figuring out alone. Feels significant.
Throughout the year: editorial work on a bilingual short fiction anthology focused on Eurasian writers. I’m co-editing and introducing. LAF is facilitating connections with Parthian Books and Fitzcarraldo Editions for UK positioning. Actual publishers. Real project.
Festival activity: likely returning to Gŵyl Arall, public conversation in Cardiff, collaboration with Wales PEN Cymru on an event for emerging writers.
Meanwhile, ECG has confirmed parallel programming that runs May-June and throughout 2026:
May 28 – June 2: Romford Festival Week. ECG is organizing massive multi-strand festival: Open Eurasian Literary Festival & Book Forum, ECG Film Festival, Voices of Friends: Poetry & Art, World Coaching Championship all happening simultaneously. I’ll lead a masterclass titled “Narratives of Luxury and Identity in a Globalised World,” moderate a bilingual literature panel, and do a reading plus Q&A during the OEBF literary strand. Week-long intensive engagement rather than single appearance.
Ongoing throughout 2026: mentoring in ECG’s Pitching Sessions for Creative Projects. Giving feedback on bilingual fiction proposals and short samples. This complements the LAF anthology work and Norwich teaching sessions—different contexts for similar craft guidance.
Plus December 2025 (happening soon): “Film & Literature: Shorts Review” session where excerpts from Polished Edges and Temporary Access will be considered for possible screen adaptation into micro-shorts. Working with UK film school partner to explore what translates from page to screen. This is completely unexpected territory but might feed back into understanding how fragmented literary structures function.
So 2026 looks like:
- LAF: Cardiff workshops, Norwich teaching, anthology editing, festival appearances
- ECG: Romford week-long festival, ongoing mentoring, possible film adaptations
- Personal work: Project Mirror manuscript, Stories & Surfaces discussion series
This isn’t scattered appearances. It’s consistent engagement with UK literary infrastructure across multiple organizations. Literature Wales, National Centre for Writing, Wales PEN Cymru, Eurasian Creative Guild. Festival partnerships. Regular contact with publishers, translators, filmmakers.
The work I’ve been wanting to do (connecting bilingual practice with UK audiences, mentoring emerging writers, participating in translation networks, exploring cross-medium adaptation) is actually happening. Not hypothetical anymore. Scheduled across two major organizations plus independent projects.
Personal creative work and literary infrastructure work feeding each other. Both matter. The Project Mirror manuscript examines algorithmic beauty and performed identity. The teaching, mentoring, and facilitation work explores similar questions through direct engagement with emerging writers navigating hybrid forms.
After years of publishing in relative isolation, this feels like finding the community and structure that makes sustained work possible. Eastern European bilingual writers aren’t exotic additions to UK literature. We’re part of the ecosystem. These programmes prove it.
Multiple organizations want this engagement. That matters.
Can’t wait to get started.
— Writer Julia Zolotova
