Yurij Andrukhovych, co-author of 'My Europe', comes from Ukraine, a part of Europe called sometimes MittelEuropa, a region which is rich in multiple nationalities, religions, traditions, cultures and languages.
In his introduction presentation, he addressed linguistic diversity, in Central Eastern Europe in particular, where the continued existence of minority languages is threatened. For Andrukhovych, losing one's language is akin to losing a part of oneself and represents the need to hold on to one's native tongue in order to hold on to one's identity...
Biography of Yurij Andrukhovych (EN)
Audio recording of Interview for Council of Europe website
Video of the conference:

