Writing Hospitality

Borders have become the cardinal issue of our time, marking the lives of the millions of migrants who are left outside of societies unable to welcome them. At a time when the policies of the European Union are once again turning their backs on refugees, Cosnay claims the importance of welcoming and gathering their voices in order to confront indifference. In books such as Voir venir, écrire l'hospitalité (Stock, 2019, written with Mathieu Potte-Bonneville) or Des îles: Lesbos 2020 - Canaries 2021 (Éditions de l'Ogre, 2021), the French writer appeals to the value of hospitality to confront the discourse of fear that often dominates the migration debate. How to promote the duty of welcoming through the literary word? Is it possible to build an open society if its borders are not?

This activity is part of the celebration of The Night of Ideas 2022 “(Re)construire Ensemble” (Rebuild together), a proposal of the French cultural network that promotes the free circulation of ideas and knowledge through the simultaneous celebration of cultural events around the world and that Barcelona carries out with the support of the Institut Français.