We all work towards the same goal: The survival of literature and free speech in a world that is rapidly changing, and mostly not for the better, what with the threat of AI for the whole sector and the rise of the extreme right as a threat for everything we stand and work for.

Francis Kirps, Vice-president of A:LL

 

What does ALL stand for?

The existence of A:LL – Association: Luxembourgish Literature – ensures that writers from Luxembourg are officially represented towards political and cultural institutions and can rely on a union to defend their moral and material rights. Our aim is professionalization in all matters related to literary work.
We provide the link between the writers` community and the ministry of culture, the federations of the local publishers, booksellers, librarians, theatre professionals …

In the five years between the folding of the former writers` association and the founding of A:LL the lack of dialogue between those different actors was deplored by everyone involved.
A:LL also intends to be communication platform for the exchange of ideas between our members. In the long run, more social and club activities such as a small festival and workshops are planned. (Being composed exclusively of volunteers, we need to plan cautiously, so as not to overstretch our woman- and manpower.)

The association has 60 active members (June 24), not the whole of the Luxembourgish literary community, but a representative share. Some authors may have reasons for not joining, others not yet be aware of our existence, or check out how we progress, before applying. Applications for membership keep coming in at a steady rate.

What are the challenges, present and future, that you consider to be more important?

To us, professional working conditions are not reserved for writers who try to make a living solely from their literary work. Otherwise, we would probably represent less than five people.
Any author whose writing is deemed quality enough for publication, theatre production or public reading must be respected and remunerated as a professional, not treated as a “hobby writer”, who should be “grateful for the opportunity”.
With a population of less than 700.000, it is obvious that no author will sell many thousands of books in Luxembourg. Selling more than 500 is considered a bestseller, more than 1000 is a glorious exception. Our literature survives mainly because of the work of idealists and enthusiasts, be it authors or publishers.

Among the support structures created by the ministry of culture are financial aids for publishers, the “Prime à la publication” for which any author having published a new book can apply and thus improve his meagre earnings.

Kultur | lx is an “Export Bureau” for promotion of Luxemburgish Arts, Music and Literature abroad. They organize Luxembourgish presence at some book fairs and are the structure where foreign publishers can apply for funding if they want to translate a book from Luxembourg.

The downside of all this: A strong dependency on governmental fundings. If those were withdrawn, or radically cut, the whole sector would crash, except for the bookshops, who can rely on the sales of foreign books.

Why you have joined EWC and what are your expectations?

A little more viability and independence could be reached if Luxembourgish Literature expanded beyond our narrow borders and that is one of the reasons why we joined EWC.
Cross-border collaboration, participating in international dialogue and debates, learning how similar problems are tackled in different countries will surely help us progress.

And of course, we are fully aware that some of our sister organisations in Europe face tougher struggles than we, considering censorship, government pressure and lack of funding and we want to stand in solidarity with them.

In the end, we all work towards the same goal: The survival of literature and free speech in a world that is rapidly changing, and mostly not for the better, what with the threat of AI for the whole sector and the rise of the extreme right as a threat for everything we stand and work for.

more about A:LL – Association: Luxembourgish Literature on their Website A:LL