The Vilnius Book Fair is the biggest literary event of the year, when the results are calculated, the best books are announced, and their authors are awarded. Literary awards are a long-standing tradition of the fair. This year, the Jurgas Ivanauskaitė and Vilnius Club prizes will be awarded, the winners of the Book Art Competition will be awarded, the twelve most creative books of the Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore will be presented and the winning book will be presented, the nominations for the Book of the Year election and the literature for children and teenagers of the Lithuanian branch of IBBY will be announced, and the most cinematic books of 2021 will be presented.
Jurga Ivanauskaitė prize for creativity without borders
"For free, open and courageous creative expression" - this is the most important motto of the Jurga Ivanauskaitė award, which has been awarded since 2008. This year, 8 books were submitted for the prize competition sponsored by the Tyto Alba publishing house. It has already been announced that this year's prize went to the writer Akvilina Cicėnaitei, who lives in Australia, for the book "English Dictionary", published by the publishing house "Alma littera". A diploma, an elephant from the collection of J. Ivanauskaitė and a bonus of 1000 euros will be awarded to the writer on Saturday, February 25, at 12:XNUMX p.m. In Writers' Corner.
One of the commission members, writer Rimantas Kmita, laureate of the J. Ivanauskaitė prize, is convinced that J. Ivanauskaitė is an example of a bright, brave, creative, independent and publicly visible creator. "Jurga's books are being republished, bought, read, new generations discover this writer and special personality. He is a personality who inspires young people with his attitude and rebellious spirit. Jurga never closed herself in one frame, she wrote, painted, lived an active social life, there were no boundaries in her work, in her life, she felt what needed to be talked about and the readers could hear her thoughts", says R. Kmita about the legendary writer.
He has no doubt that creativity is a dialogue with people. A. Cicėnaitė, the laureate of this year's J. Ivanauskaitė prize, weaves exactly such a dialogue. "Aquilina's prose is literature for which language is important. In the novel, she is not only a means of telling the story, the cultivated language of the writer immerses her in the story. Turning any page, you dive into the book's character's experiences, choices, her presence between Lithuanian and English languages, her intermediate state between Vilnius and Sydney, between different cultures. We don't have so many fiction books that write about other countries, like J. Ivanauskaitė, Aquilina does not confine herself to being Lithuanian", says R. Kmita.
The Vilnius club prize promises intrigue
Thirteen books published last year were submitted for the Vilnius Club prize. The founders of the prize - the Association of Lithuanian Publishers and the Vilnius Club - aim for more books to be written about Vilnius, which would encourage people to get to know the capital of Lithuania, popularize the history, traditions, and uniqueness of the city, and encourage the respect and interest of Vilnius residents and guests of the city.
Chairman of the Vilnius Club Council Prof. Alina Pūrienė says that she hopes that the prize will not only encourage the literary community to write about Vilnius and its inhabitants, but also for discussions and reflections about literature on the topic of Vilnius and the culture of the city in a broad sense, translations into foreign languages, which are so lacking. "Another important aspect is that the books awarded the Vilnius Club prize also perfectly reflect the publishers' contribution and comprehensive work. Every year, when selecting books for the prize, great attention is paid not only to the content, but also to the quality of publishing", says A. Pūrienė and adds that the books presented for the prize this year were much more mature and had a particularly different theme.
Authors of publications range from new to respected and recognized scientists, different volumes and genres of publications. "All this caused very interesting and deep discussions, which led to the decision to award, along with the main prize, another one - an incentive prize for an extremely unexpected look at today's Vilnius", - the chairman of the Vilnius club council A. Pūrienė promises the intrigue of the awards.
Winners of the Vilnius prize will be awarded at the fair on Saturday, February 25, at 13 p.m. In Writers' Corner.
Winners of the book art competition and exhibition of Ukrainian books
Ministry of Culture This year, one hundred and thirteen ice creams published in 31 competed in the book art competition, which was held for the 2022st time. 27 publications were presented in the group of books for children. 21 books were awarded prizes and diplomas: the Main prize of the year and a monetary prize and two diplomas will be awarded in each of the six thematic categories; The Union of Lithuanian Artists and the Vilnius Academy of Arts will also give an award each. The awards of the book art competition will be held on Sunday, February 26, at 12:5.1 p.m. in LRT hall XNUMX.
The list of awardees includes fiction and essays, scientific, subject books, children's books, textbooks, artistic and documentary photography, bibliophile and experimental, art publications.
The Lithuanian Union of Artists and the Vilnius Academy of Arts will present their awards at the Book Art Competition.
Rūta Lazauskaitė, the curator of the competition and the advisor of the Professional Creativity and Internationalization Policy Group of the Ministry of Culture, says that an excellent book as a whole, worthy of its own award, is spoken about when the people responsible for the different processes of its creation become a united team. "Book authors give readers the pleasure of reading, and this competition is distinguished by the fact that it focuses entirely on the people who give the book its form, aesthetic appearance and ease of reading, purposeful and pleasant, with a theme and a corresponding polygraphic whole. During these awards, we do not invite authors and translators to the stage (although they are, of course, the main reason for the creation of a book), but we honor those whose work is to reflect the content, adapt, remain invisible - book artists, layout designers, illustrators. Since the contribution of publishing houses and printing houses is equal in the process of creating an aesthetic book, they also receive diplomas. In general, apart from the Book Awards "KA2.0.2.3", which was held for the first time this year, this is the only competition that honors book artists and promotes the public's attention to the design and polygraphic quality of printed books."
This year, the Vilnius Book Fair will have another news - the exhibitions of the winners of the Lithuanian and Czech Book Art Competitions, which have already become a tradition, will be complemented by an exhibition of Ukrainian books, and the results of the "Best Baltic Book" competition will also be announced at the awards event, - . On the occasion of the 700th anniversary of Vilnius, the competition moves to Vilnius. Together with Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian "Best Baltic Book" laureates, the best design book from Ukraine will also be awarded.
Twelve of the most creative books - the anniversary year
The Twelve Most Creative Books, collected since 2003, are perhaps the oldest awards announced at the Vilnius Book Fair. The twelve most creative books are selected by the researchers of the Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore (LLTI), who study Lithuanian literature.
"This year we celebrate the twelfth anniversary of the Most Creative Books. Exactly twenty years ago, the first twelve were chosen. These are the only awards in Lithuania where fiction books written by Lithuanian authors are read by professionals - researchers of contemporary Lithuanian literature," says one of the commission members, literary scholar dr. Jūratė Čerškutė.
For the LLTI prize, not only the laureate is important, but also the 2003th prize itself: since 2022, when the first XNUMXth prize was chosen, there has been a tradition of drawing attention to the entire list of books, thereby encouraging discussions about Lithuanian literature and its present. Such a discussion was also held about the books published by Lithuanian authors in XNUMX. It was noted that the post-pandemic fatigue and the upheavals of the war also affected literature - there is a lack of strong prose, there is an increase in stories made up of fragments, the style and quality of texts are affected by social networks, the inertia of writing, commitments to publishing houses or creative residencies. The poetry is full of confessional lyrics, self-centeredness, recurring themes, and the writing style of different poets is similar. Authentic self-documentary stood out from the context, a lot of attention is paid to the dystopia genre. On the other hand, in prose, the experience of partisan war is rethought in a new and relevant way, and in poetry there is a lively creative sense of language, family history is actualized, and the tradition of Lithuanian and world culture is felt.
The list of the twelve most creative books concluded the discussion of contemporary literature by LLTI Institute researchers. The laureate of the LLTI prize is chosen by the 11th LLTI committee of literary experts by secret ballot from the list of twelve. This year, the most creative book of 2022 will be announced at the Vilnius Book Fair on Sunday, February 26, at 11 a.m., in the "15 min forum". The laureate will be awarded at the Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore commemorating March 11.
The list of "Book of the Year Election" nominees is announced
The campaign "Election of books of the year", organized by the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania, Republic of Lithuania The Ministry of Culture and Lithuanian National Radio and Television will announce the nominated books for the eighteenth time. This will happen for the second time at the Vilnius Book Fair. Fairs on Thursday, February 23, at 12 p.m. Books by contemporary authors selected by the commission will be published in LRT hall 5.1. The event will be hosted by LRT journalists Gerūta Griniūtė and Jolanta Kryževičienė.
Chairman of the Commission for Children and Adolescents Assoc. Dr. Kęstutis Urba notes that the commission that selected the five nominees had to read 150 books. 20 of them were intended for cognitive literature, all the others - fiction books of various genres, for various addressees. As always, there are quite a few books for teenagers - not even ten. As K. Urba said, the commission was most pleased by the fact that new creators are coming to children's and teenagers' literature.
Poet and essayist Gytis Norvilas, the chairman of the committee that evaluated books for adults, said that 2022 was mediocre in the literary sense: "There was a lot to choose from poetry, journalism and documentaries. Prose, unfortunately, is bad in Lithuania - and this is nothing new, we don't know how to tell. At a certain stage of the deliberations, we even caught ourselves evaluating a written sentence..." The Chairman of the Commission emphasizes that it is worth drawing the attention of readers, publishing houses, and authors themselves to this situation.
After the announcement of the nominees, voting for readers' favorite books will begin, which will last until April 23. The winners of the promotion will be announced on May 7th, the day of the recovery of the press, the speech and the book.
The best books for children and teenagers
On Thursday, February 23, at 14 p.m., in hall 5.1 of the fair, a short list of nominations for children's and adolescent literature of the Lithuanian branch of IBBY will be presented. This list always receives professional attention and becomes a reference list for libraries, schools and parents.
The awards, which will be held for the 31st time, are perhaps the longest-standing children's literature awards in independent Lithuania, covering the entire field of children's literature - original literature, translations, illustrations, dissemination - the number of awards has increased to 8 over the long years of existence. The best books and initiatives of the year are collected only professionals: literature researchers and lecturers, teachers, librarians, etc.
"At this year's event, we especially want to emphasize the need for professional children's literature dissemination and reflection. We believe that a self-respecting nation must invest in children's literature specialists, of whom we can count on the fingers of our hands in Lithuania, and the professional dissemination and reflection of children's literature is necessary as a prevention of quality literature, as a counterweight to the extremely widespread amateurism and attitudes to create and understand children's literature everyone can. Therefore, we will also present the renewed magazine "Rubinaitis" - the only professional magazine about children's literature in Lithuania, and the only information website for children's literature in Lithuania www.ibbylietuva.lt", said Inga Mitunevičiūtė, the chairperson of the Lithuanian branch of IBBY.
Books deserve to be made into movies
For the fourth year, the project "Book + China" presents books by Lithuanian authors selected by a commission of professionals and published in 2021, which may become movie scripts in the future. These books will be presented on February 24, at 14 p.m., in the 1.1 Cinema Hall. The event will be hosted by actor Jokūbas Bareikis.
The commission of the "Knyga + Kinas" project - screenwriter, director, text author Gailė Garnelytė, book author, lecturer Vitalija Maksvytė and theater director and actor Albertas Vidžiūnas selected the most cinematic books of 2022 submitted to the project. There are 10 of them in the list.
When evaluating the books, the commission took into account whether the work arouses the imagination or creates an impression of another world, reality. The commission also drew attention to the possibility of easily adapting the plot to the cinema and the importance of strong actors, and also took into account the financial possibilities of the book's screen adaptation, originality, and relevance of the themes. According to the members of the commission, the works of Lithuanian authors in 2022 could become an inspiration for creating dramas, mystical films or even comedies.
"Not necessarily all the books we have chosen will become films, it is equally important to bring together creators of the film industry and the literary community, to introduce film people to writers," says one of the commission members, film director and screenwriter Gailė Garnelytė.
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.
