Elias Canetti, a Jewish Émigré in Britain: Leeds Responses
- Date: Monday 11 May 2026, 11:00 – 12:30
- Location: Michael Sadler Building
- Cost: Free
Join us for a roundtable discussion responding to the travelling exhibition Elias Canetti, a Jewish Émigré in Britain: People, Places, Impressions (1939–1988).
This richly researched exhibition explores the exile, intellectual networks and British encounters of Elias Canetti (1905–1994), the Bulgarian born, Sephardi Jewish writer who became one of the twentieth century’s most compelling observers of crowds, power and modernity.
Drawing on newly accessible diaries, notebooks and personal papers, the exhibition traces Canetti’s journey from Central Europe to wartime Britain, his outsider perspective on British society, and his creative exchanges with artists, writers and fellow émigrés.
In this roundtable event, four scholars will reflect on the themes raised by the exhibition, including exile and displacement, language and identity, autobiographical memory, and the cultural dynamics of émigré life in mid century Britain.
Speakers
More information
The event is free and takes place in Room 1.01 in the Michael Sadler Building.
It is open to all and will also include a brief tour of the exhibition, displayed in the Michael Sadler Building (German Foyer, Floor 2).
Jointly hosted by the Bauman Institute, the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies and the Centre for Jewish Studies. Light refreshments will be served.
Image
Canetti leaving Farquharson's café, one of his regular London haunts, in 1977.