TRAFIKA EUROPE CORNER with Clayton McKee: 2025 EUPL mini-series

Trafika Europe is pleased to announce the 2025 EUPL mini-series! The format changes a bit this year. Rather than broadcasting a series of interviews with any and all authors from this year’s cohort, we have decided to spotlight the 2025 laureate and two special mentions. The series will take place over three weeks, with the first episode being released on September 5. We are excited to produce this mini-series again and encourage you to check out the following authors before the interviews are released.

Belgian author Philippe Marczewski researched neuropsychological theory for seven years before changing fields to literature. He became an independent bookshop owner and, after sixteen years, decided to begin his career as an author. His first novel, Blues pour trois tombes et un fantôme, was published in 2019, and his second novel, Un corps tropical, appeared in 2021. He was awarded a special mention in this year’s 2025 EUPL cohort for his novel Quand Cécile. This novel mixes past, present, and imagined future as the narrator struggles with the memory a Cécile, a woman who died far too young in a plane crash. Check out Philippe’s profile here.

Sheila Armstrong now lives in Berlin, but she is from the north-west of Ireland. She began her literary career with a collection of short stories titled How to Gut a Fish. She received the 2025 EUPL special mention for her début novel Falling Animals. Rather than focusing on one perspective, this novel takes a mystery and passes it through the lenses of more than a dozen perspectives. Armstrong creates a surreal yet extremely real situation that goes far beyond a simple mystery. Read more about Sheila on the EUPL website here.

This year’s laureate, Nicoletta Verna, lives in Florence, Italy. She is a fiction editor and has taught communications theory at various institutions. Her first novel, Il valore affettivo, was released in 2021. This novel was well-received and was a special mention for the Italo Calvino award, the Opera Prima Severino Cesari prize, and the Massarosa prize. Her EUPL novel, I Giorni di Vetro, is a historical novel that follows a girl, Redenta, cursed from her birth. Redenta’s personal life intertwines with Italy’s fascist history, creating a thrilling historical novel with extreme relevance to today. Check out Verna’s profile with the EUPL here.

Interested in hearing more about these phenomenal authors? Check out Sheila Armstrong’s interview on September 5, 2025, Philippe’s on September 12, 2025, and Nicoletta’s on September 19, 2025. All episodes will be aired on Trafika Europe Radio.

By Clayton McKee

Read previous posts in The Trafika Europe Corner series:

TRAFIKA EUROPE CORNER with Clayton McKee: VISA by Niels Hav

TRAFIKA EUROPE CORNER with Clayton McKee: Upcoming Submission Opportunities with Trafika Europe

TRAFIKA EUROPE CORNER with Clayton McKee: 2025 LITERARY PRIZES announced

TRAFIKA EUROPE CORNER with Clayton McKee: two poems by Maria Carbunaru

TRAFIKA EUROPE CORNER with Clayton McKee: two poems by Mark Murphy

TRAFIKA EUROPE CORNER with Clayton McKee: two poems by Tom Fleming

TRAFIKA EUROPE CORNER with Clayton McKee: THE POSSESSED by Witold Gombrowicz, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones

TRAFIKA EUROPE CORNER with Clayton McKee: REGAINING RESISTANCE by Arno Bohlmeijer

TRAFIKA EUROPE CORNER with Clayton McKee: DESERT by Pèire Millet, translated by Clayton McKee

TRAFIKA EUROPE CORNER with Clayton McKee: TE and EU Prize for Literature