Even last year, when the first day of the international Vilnius book fair coincided with the new stage of the war in Ukraine beginning, it was decided to combine two important things - 700 years of Vilnius and the idea of freedom. It is impossible to understand the historical anniversary of Vilnius without the context of Russia's war against Ukraine, without solidarity with the war-weary country and without all of us striving for freedom. That's why on February 2023-23, 26 LITEXPO The 23rd Vilnius Book Fair, which will be held in the exhibition and congress center, writes 700 lines for freedom.
The Ukrainian theme seems to be moving to 2023 from this year, when the post-pandemic joy of meeting with the community of book creators and readers was overshadowed by the Russian conflict that began on the first day of the fair. war in Ukraine. Everyone event, every meeting at the fair began and ended with words expressing support for Ukraine.
"The book fair is for the public. Last year, the Vilnius book fair coincided with the beginning of the war in Ukraine, we reached only 50%. the result we expected. In 2021, the book fair was stopped by the pandemic. We really hope that this year will be different - we will return to the good old days, to the 2020s, when more than 70 people visited the Vilnius Book Fair. They chose to spend the last weekend of February among books, meet creators and important people of the state, participate in discussions and creative workshops. The music hall barely accommodated the music lovers", said Lolita Varanavičienė, the president of the Lithuanian Publishers' Association and the long-time organizer of the Vilnius Book Fair, at the journalists' breakfast dedicated to the 000rd Vilnius Book Fair at the Literati House.
Landing of Ukrainian writers and creators
At this year's Vilnius book fair, great attention will be paid to Ukrainian authors, Ukrainian literature and European freedom struggle literature. The organizers of the fair will invite visitors and guests to serious political and social discussions, in which well-known Lithuanian and foreign writers, political scientists, historians and experts will participate. "It seems that the Vilnius fair is becoming a rather important part of the cultural life of Ukraine, we have been joined by a large force of Ukrainian creators who live in Lithuania today, as well as those who came from other countries," said L. Varanavičienė.
Rūta Nanartavičiūtė, head of the Programs and Projects Department of the Lithuanian Institute of Culture, which organizes the fair, says that the Vilnius Book Fair is a place of reaction to the war and support for Ukraine: "We think it is extremely important to give a voice to Ukraine and its people at the book fair - authors, artists, literary and publishing professionals, readers and those who have settled in Lithuania - so that they can carry their message and be heard".
Together with the organizers of the largest intellectual event in Ukraine "Book Arsenal", the Lithuanian Institute of Culture prepared a special program. It is based on a dialogue between Ukrainian and Lithuanian writers and intellectuals, this program will not lack events for children and young people, and art action, exhibitions and even cinema.
This year, the Vilnius Book Fair will welcome more than 60 guests from Ukraine - writers, poets, illustrators, journalists, film directors, diplomats, politicians. Visitors to the fair will be able to get acquainted with Ukrainian authors and books at the Ukrainian stand, which will be located between the third and fourth halls of LITEXPO. It was installed by the Book Institute of Ukraine together with the Lithuanian Institute of Culture.
The Ukrainian Book Institute brings the slogan "Persistence to be" to Vilnius. Perseverance and non-conciliation at this stage of Ukraine's history became the most important starting point for many citizens of the country who are going through difficult days. The Ukrainian stand will become the main place of the fair, where visitors will be able to get acquainted with Ukrainian books, meet Ukrainian publishers and get autographs of authors.
On February 24, at 15:5.1 p.m., in Hall XNUMX, the film performance "Strička" by artist Eugene Arlov will be held to commemorate the anniversary of the war. It will be possible to hear and see moving testimonies of Ukrainians fleeing the war in an unexpected form.
Events in Ukraine and the place of man in the war will also be discussed at the "Media Forum", which was started in 2018. The theme of this year's forum: other war fronts. The war in Ukraine raised a lot of cultural pain points — both Western clichés of thinking about the spiritual soul of the Russians, and internal fears, mistrust of the power of the word of their culture. The purpose of the media forum is to bring together well-known writers, authors, translators, journalists, commentators and representatives of public organizations for a joint discussion to talk about our future trajectories, to try to find the power, strength and resilience of the Lithuanian word in the face of war.
Ukrainian poetry readings, sensitive stories of Ukrainian refugees, presentation of the latest translations of Lithuanian literature into Ukrainian, creative workshops in Ukrainian, discussions about the power of reading, about creative practices of illustration in war, about how important themes are born in literature, old and new books by Ukrainian writers, meeting with one of the most famous Ukrainian writers, Oksana Zabuzhko, - these events both Ukrainian and Lithuanian visitors are waiting for the fair.
Starting today, an auction will be published on the Facebook account of the Vilnius Book Fair. Aleksas Matvejev, the co-founder of Ukrainian House in Lithuania, auctioned the sweater of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a silver coin of the Bank of Lithuania dedicated to Ukraine's struggle for freedom, and three posters of the triennial of the Kharkiv Academy of Art and Design, which were exhibited at the exhibition in Vilnius. "All funds collected at the auction will be used to support Ukrainian fighters and the territorial defense of the city of Kyiv," said A. Matvejev.
Ukrainians who present their identification document will be able to enter the Vilnius Book Fair for free. Books published in the Ukrainian language will be marked with special markers at the fair. "For us, for Ukrainians, this fair will be one of the most beautiful in the world, I am sending a huge thank you to Ukrainians for their support, for their support, it will remain in our memory forever. Russia is destroying not only our homes, but also our culture, it is very important that by supporting our creators, you help protect the identity of our nation," said Lesia Rozhak, third secretary of the Ukrainian Embassy, at the press breakfast.
Conversations and discussions are the focus of the Vilnius jubilee
This year, the fair will host about half a thousand events. They were briefly presented at the journalists' breakfast by Rūta Elijošaitytė-Kaikarė, the executive director of the Lithuanian Publishers Association. She said that the Vilnius Book Fair returns with a particularly strong program for visitors and fair participants. "Events are planned for a wide variety of tastes, guests from other countries are coming, writers living abroad are returning to Lithuania, there will even be several literary award ceremonies, nominations for the Book of the Year elections will be announced. We are already hearing complaints that good events are being duplicated at the fair, but there are many of them!" said R. Elijošaitytė-Kaikarė.
At the fair, the accent of Vilnius celebrating its 700th anniversary is very clear, more than 20 events are dedicated to Vilnius. In 2021, declared a UNESCO City of Literature, Vilnius immediately became part of the global network of cities of literature. Representatives of UNESCO cities of literature will discuss what literary organizations can do at the fair. The talk "Civis Vilnensis Sum" will discuss the cultural size, depth and breadth of the city of Vilnius, and the most famous historians of the country will examine the alternative history of Vilnius.
The fair will feature excerpts from Gediminas's letters, poetry dedicated to the city's anniversary, book presentations and talks will explore the names, faces, tastes, architecture and interiors of Vilnius. Lithuanian National Museum will present the catalog of the exhibition "I am a Vilnius resident", R. Paknis publishing house - Tomas Venclova's "Vilnius names: a book of additions", "Tyto alba" historical novel by Gina Viliūnė about the "Deadly arquebus shot" of Vilnius, "Eugrimas" - Remigius Šimašius' book "City and the mayor Stories of changes in Vilnius".
On the Saturday of the fair, the traditional prize of the Vilnius Club will be awarded, which encourages writers to get to know the capital of Lithuania, popularize the history, traditions, and uniqueness of the city of Vilnius.
The executive director of the Lithuanian Publishers Association R. Elijošaitytė-Kaikarė spoke at the journalists' breakfast about the fact that literary professionals from other countries are extremely active this year. "Sizable delegations of literary professionals from Gothenburg and Lviv UNESCO Cities of Literature are arriving, as well as a group of literary and cultural people from France, who are preparing for 2024, the Year of Lithuanian Culture in France. Writers, translators and publishers from Lithuania and Estonia who have planned four days in Vilnius", R. Elijošaitytė-Kaikarė named the guests.
There are half a dozen concerts in the music hall
The "Music Hall" program organized by the AGATA association includes more than 50 concerts and talks and almost 70 stands. Lithuanian music performers, publishers, festival organizers, cultural centers of Lithuanian regions and sellers of music publications will be waiting for music lovers in LITEXPO halls 1, 2 and Cinema halls.
In the "Muzikas hall" it will be possible to hear the concerts of Alina Orlova, Nika Ganga, "Sisters on Wire", "Garbanot", Virgis Stakėnas, "BIX" and many other artists. The sounds of contemporary music will be diversified by the baroque music orchestra "Cappella Concertante Vilnense", the actors Justas and Jurgis of the "Keistuoli teatro" will sing, and the chocoteka with the electro group "Knygų vaikii" by children's writers Tomas Dirgėla and Justin Žilinskas.
A separate stage is dedicated to conversations in "Muzikos salė" - Gabrielius Vagelis, Jessica Shy, the bands "jautì", "THE ROOP", "shishi" will talk about their latest releases. There will be meetings with stage veterans Algirdas Kaušpėdas and Andrius Mamontovs. As every year, the traditional AGATA awards will be held for the Lithuanian music artists who received the most listeners' attention in 2022 on music platforms and on the radio airwaves.
"We are a big community, you can really feel it when you visit the "Music Hall" - there is no barrier between the musician and the listener, everyone can talk to their favorite artist and make new contacts," said AGATA head Agnė Begetė.
Justinas Bortkevičius, head of the Lithuanian Congress and Exhibition Center, welcomed the opportunity to organize the 23rd Vilnius Book Fair at the press breakfast. "The visual of this year's fair accurately represents the unity of Vilnius and Ukraine. The fair, which has grown in every sense - it received 200 participants - will invite you to the grand opening and Friends' Day on Thursday, we called Friday the Day of Impressions, we are waiting for you on the Day of Dates on Saturday, and on Sunday - the Day of the Family. It will be possible to come to the fair by free public transport - colorful buses from the very center of Vilnius, from Cathedral Square. We expect to receive more than 50.000 visitors at the fair, so it is best to buy tickets online in advance to avoid queues. kakava.lt. The novelty of the fair is unique colorful badges that you can buy at the ticket office.
"Publishers welcome this year's Vilnius book fair well prepared. New books, joint publishing house events, a variety of genres, joint book presentations, bonuses and awards for the best, it seems that we are as strong and united as ever," L. Varanavičienė, head of the Lithuanian Publishers' Association, summarized at the journalists' breakfast.
The 23rd International Vilnius Book Fair "700 Lines for Freedom will take place" on February 2023-23, 26 at the Lithuanian Exhibition and Congress Center LITEXPO. The organizers of the fair are the Association of Lithuanian Publishers, the Lithuanian Institute of Culture and the Lithuanian Exhibition and Congress Center LITEXPO.
