It’s called LECTEU – European Literature Reading Club, it aims to promote reading in higher education and is funded by the DGES, the National Reading Plan and the Commemorative Commission for the 50th anniversary of the 25th of April. The initiative is open to the entire NOVA community and to EUTOPIA, the alliance of European universities of which NOVA is a member.
In Journey from One Germany to Another, Nobel laureate Günter Grass recounts thirteen months of his diary during German reunification; in War and Turpentine, Belgian writer Stefan Hertmans uses notebooks inherited from his grandfather to tell how a Flemish soldier survived the First World War; in Debauched Desire, Slovenian writer Drago Jancar tells how Gregor Gradnik’s life changed when he was accepted as a professor of creative writing in the United States, leaving behind a formerly communist Central European country.
In total, ten books have been selected for LECTEU, a name derived from the Latin word “lectio” and the acronym for the European Union in English (EU), including authors such as the French Margarite Duras (The Lover, the famous tempestuous love story between a young French woman and a rich Chinese merchant in pre-war Indochina) and the Portuguese Lídia Jorge (The Wind Whistles in the Cranes, or the crossed story of an old factory with the happiness of a large family recently arrived from Africa), who want to be the gateway for NOVA students in the European context – in this case, all the authors are from countries that are part of EUTOPIA, the alliance of European universities of which NOVA is a member.
Funded by an open call from the Directorate-General for Higher Education (DGES), the National Reading Plan (PNL+) and the Commemorative Commission for the 50th anniversary of the 25th of April, the Club will also encourage direct contact with peers from other EUTOPIA universities, promoting debates based on different historical and social contexts, as the selected works reflect relevant social and political issues.
For the time being, it is making its debut with students who are now starting the SUPERNOVA programme – a programme developed for students who have completed (or are about to complete) secondary education and who wish to apply for higher education in Portugal and familiarise themselves with the European higher education system – coordinated by a student elected by their peers in the first session. Each semester, five of the 10 books selected are chosen, a selection that is renewed at the end of each academic year.