Progress Reports ≠ig fem (Austria) 📌 see update read about the Austrian expert panel Schamrock (Germany) 📌   see update FixDit (Netherlands) 📌   see update Brief The EPESEP team is working with a panel of female experts consisting of authors, literary scholars, critics, historians, educationalists, publishers, booksellers and teachers to develop a feminist reading list for lessons in schools across Austria, Germany, Netherlands and Armenia which will be submitted to the respective Ministries of Education for adaptation, once completed. Our Goal The aim of the project is to create the following lists. At first, we work on lists for schools (these should contain approximately 100 titles per list ) ​ Kindergarten Elementary school Secondary school       o   “Lower level” (~10-14 years) (literature and feminist non-fiction)       o   “Upper level” (~14-18 years) (literature and feminist non-fiction) ​ Further, we work on general lists for adults (these have no upper limit of titles) ​ Adults (literature) Adults (feminist non-fiction) University (literature and feminist non-fiction) ​ Our initial focus is on the lists for schools, in particular the lists for lower and upper secondary school. Work Steps Step 1: Inviting experts for the panel Step 2: Collecting titles Step 3: Evaluating titles and assigning them to an age group Step 4: Recommending appropriate titles per age group Step 5: Development of website/public database e.g. search functions for schooltype, age, century, country etc. Step 6: Making the lists publicly available across countries

25. to 27. Oct 2024, Werksviertel-Mitte Kunst Munich The EPESEP Symposium took place within the framework of the Schamrock Festival from October 25th to 27th, in Munich. During public workshops and events, the individual components of the EPESEP project were presented to the festival participants. ​ The EU project EPESEP "Equal Pay, Equal Show, Equal Pension" aims to raise awareness of sexist structures in the literary industry and to develop measures to improve the situation of female authors in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, and Armenia. EPESEP addresses inequalities in income, visibility, and pensions by collecting and evaluating data and developing strategies to promote equal opportunities. Feminist and literary organisations were promoted, aiming to establish a transnational collaboration amongst writers. The symposia included expert lectures, meetings of the writing and networking group, readings of female authors, exchange and discussions on the topical results of the project. The symposium presented the opportunity to present the results of the survey, but also to provide female authors with a platform to present their works in front of an international audience and to exchange writers, stakeholders and experts from other European countries. 📌 Read the full Munich symposium report . 📌 Documentary film about "Conference Of The Birds", the 7th Schamrock-Festival Of Women Poets & the EPESEP-Symposium by Gretel Ribka 📌 All workshop presentations  can be found here. 👀 Keep an eye out for the details of the upcoming symposiums in 2025 & 2026 on our website ! [ images in order ] Poetry Reading, EU-EPESEP Symposium, EPESEP Survey Workshop, EPESEP writing group workshop, EPESEP midnight poetry reading, EPESEP reading list workshop

4-7 April 2024, Brussels 400+ publishing houses, 80,000+ book readers, editors, publishers, parents, authors, children, all came together in the world of books. Below are some magical works that caught out attention:   32 grammes de pensée by Nadine Marchand-Zañartu: A select documentation of artists' sketches/drafts capturing their first ideas. Wie ein Lichtstrahl in der Finsternis by Aurèlie Bros: letters of Ukranian women to the free world. More than three authors we met thematised the world of women. Olivette Otele wrote the unknown stories about African Europeans. La lumiére sur le seuil, lyrics by Babtiste Cogitore (French) alongside stage plays was based on letters written by soldiers from the first world war. Childrens books: Pippi Langstrumpf series by Astrid Lindgren that inspired young people for 80+ years. Karine Guiro-Hadjidj showed us her first book, Recueil d'activités ensorcelantes.

25-26 March 2024, Museum of Leuven Day 1: discussions held with colleagues who face the challenges of school education. Problems of male students with reading were discussed, while the participation of women in the literary sector received little attention. What do girls gain from good grades, a love of reading, and books if the gender pay gap continues to exist? ​ Day 2: intensive discussions were held in working groups, in "Promoting Reading through Formal and Non-Formal Education Group," findings of the previous day were discussed, with the Italian participants emphasizing that without the necessary equipment and finances, promoting reading is difficult. It was concluded that more and better reading is necessary, especially for male students. Additionally, a very exciting working group on the topic of "Artificial Intelligence" was held, an area that is also being addressed at the European level. 📺 View opening speeches and presentation of the Day of European Authors 2024

25 March 2024, Brussels On March 25, we visited the Steiermarkhaus for the exhibition of the Leibnitzer artist Klaus Dieter Hartl and to report in detail on the European project 'Equal Pay, Equal Show, Equal Pension' (EPESEP). Ms. Mag.a Claudia Suppan, Deputy Director, received us personally and took time for a detailed conversation. Ms. Suppan represented Ms. Victoria Langmann, BA: Culture, Agriculture, and Committee of the Regions.   We discussed the possibility of a residency for female authors in Brussels as a future cooperation possibility.

23 March 2024, Pentagone 25 female artists exhibited their work and engaged in a series of conversations addressing the role of women in art . The NGO Women In Art (WIA) pursues the goal of promoting and supporting the work of female artists in Belgium and worldwide. The cultural diversity of female artists are to be brought closer to a broad public as well as to artistic and cultural institutions.   EPESEP representatives joined the discourse on the role and contribution of female artists to art history and contemporary art .

Austria:  ≠igfem  is the leading partner of the EPESEP project. It  is a non-profit organisation, founded in 2019 and based in Vienna, Austria. Its name is an abbreviation for Interessensgemeinschaft Feministische Autorinnen, which translates into Association of Feminist Authors. The core missions of ≠igfem are to  represent the concerns  of female writers, fight against sexist inequalities in the literary field and to offer professional training for female writers.   Website | Instagram | Facebook Founders of ≠igfem : Doro Pointner and Gerlinde Hacker