A tale of two Europes (feat. Anja Kümmel)

For the time-space exploration of today, We reflect on the fact a lot of science fiction worldbuilding results in scenarios that are both dystopian and utopian, depending on the viewpoint. Margaret Atwoods said: "Better never means better for everyone. It always means worse, for some." Somehow, this reminds the latest novel of the guest author of this episode, which is an experimental work set on different time levels, narrated from two perspectives, and revolving around the themes of identity, surveillance, memory and strategies for dealing with traumatic situations. Starting from this background Anja Kümmel and Giuseppe Porcaro imagine a deep-future Europe were two societies live completely sealed off from each other. Would they ever interact or clash? Anja Kümmel was born in Karlsruhe, Germany, in 1978. She studied Gender Studies and Spanish in Los Angeles, Madrid and Hamburg. Since 2009 she works as a freelance writer and journalist. Apart from several publications in literary magazines and anthologies, she published five novels: „La Danza Mortale“ (2004), „Das weiße Korsett“ (2007), „Hope’s Obsession“ (2008), „Träume Digitaler Schläfer“ (2012) and „V oder die Vierte Wand“ (2016). She received a grant from the Art Foundation Baden-Württemberg in 2007 and the GEDOK Literary Award 2010. In 2010 she was a writer in residence at Künstlerhaus Lukas, Ahrenshoop, and in 2012 at Kommandantenhaus Dilsberg. 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. Europarama is a podcast series about science fiction and the future of Europe by Giuseppe Porcaro, brought to you by the Are We Europe podcasting family. Europarama is a follow-up project to DISCO SOUR, a novel about Europe and democracy in the age of algorithms.