This weekend will be unexpectedly hot in Vilnius: even if the weather is wintery, the creative fervor will definitely not last - the first international literary festival "Vilnius lapai" will be held in the capital for three days.
The Vilniaus lapai festival will present twelve events for literary creators on December 9-11: they will read texts, interact with literature lovers, and sign autographs. Writers and poets will be joined by musicians, who will add even more colors to the word with their sounds.
The goal of the festival organizers is to popularize public readings of literature, intended not for specialists, but for the general public. Such literary festivals are very popular in Great Britain, Scandinavian countries, France, Estonia. The main three evenings of the festival are dedicated to presenting three authors of Lithuanian and foreign literature. This year it will be Rolandas Rastauskas, Danutė Kalinauskaitė and the Icelandic writer Hallgrímur Helgason. Meetings with them will take place at the National Drama Theater.
On Friday, December 9, the evening of the work of Roland Rastauskas "Otelas i Sibiu" will be crowned by the readings of R. Rastauskas' work highlighted by jazz improvisations by D. Golovanov and A. Gotesman and video projections by A. Maknytė. The writer likes to meet the audience, he remembers more than one fun evening of his readings.
"In 2007, at the Gothenburg book fair, together with Giedra Radvilavičiūta and Rimvydus Stankevičius, we had a particularly fun time chatting with Swedish high school students: they had prepared lessons, that is, they had read us carefully and, unlike their compatriots who are forever silent, they had a lot of questions. I remember, after the meeting, I got lost in an ancient red brick building in the gymnasium building, all the doors were locked, and only a guard who appeared from somewhere let me out. Colleagues' feet have been cold for a long time. Before that, I noticed that all the corridors were freshly washed, although the cleaning lady was nowhere to be seen. Maybe they had hired Karlson?'' - recalls R. Rastauskas.
On Saturday, December 10, a unique meeting awaits you with the Icelandic writer, the author of the book "1000° Woman". After the meeting with the writer and the readings of his works - a screening of the screen version of H. Helgason's novel "101 Reykjavik".
On Sunday, December 11, an extraordinary intrigue awaits Danutė Kalinauskaitė's creative evening: the writer and the actor who played her character Juozas Budraitis will meet on stage for the first time. The event will be completed by the short film "Niekada nežinai" by director Giedrias Tamoševičius based on D. Kalinauskaitė's short story with actor Juoz Budračius. Preparing for the meeting with readers, D. Kalinauskaitė is a little worried. After all, readers are often very attentive. Based on the stories and details of the writer's works, they can ask questions that will not be so easy to answer.
"Once after the holidays"Rimi", at the farmer's market, where I shop, a seller in a floor-length black apron, weighing smoked bacon for me, asked me if I was Danutė. He saw it on Panorama, identified it (the same woman), listened to a radio show in the garden and asked directly in front of him. Did the soldiers of Napoleon's army from my story, while retreating after the great defeat through Lithuania, really eat formalin-soaked food from hunger Vilnius University laboratory specimen. And what happened to them after that? After all, formalin is pure poison... Out of the blue, I even squatted down. That's why you have to check the facts ten times when you're writing - because of such attentive and attentive readers, and you can meet them where you wouldn't suspect - behind the counter, tying a long black apron and weighing the bacon for you," says D. Kalinauskaitė.
Late Friday evening and Saturday and Sunday afternoons in the lobby of the National Drama Theater, where you can view exhibitions of photographs by Dainius Dirgėla and manipuliacija.lt, open to all and free of charge events – literary readings, meetings with writers, musical improvisations and performances. Here we will see Lithuanian authors of various generations - from National Prize laureates to young poets. The beginning of the festival will be marked by a delicate and intoxicating fiesta of poetry and jazz, where poems will be read by poet AA Jonyns, laureate of the National Culture and Art Prize, poets G. Kazlauskaitė, D. Čepauskaitė, poets M. Burokas, M. Nastaravičius, the group "Silent" led by V. Labutis will play Blast". On Saturday, the songs of the duet "Kamanii šilelis" will be played here.
On December 10, Saturday, in the foyer of the theater, there will be a meeting with the authors of the "Book of the Year Election" poetry books, Eugenijus Ališankas, Mantas Balakauskas, Stasius Eidrigevičius, Dainius Gintalus, Giedres Kazlauskaites. The authors of the children's books of the "Election of the Year Book" Aidas Jurašius, Nadia Kovaliova, Selemonas Paltanavičius, Jurga Baltrukonytė will also meet the readers. Another one will be held here on Sunday afternoon event for little lovers of literature - they will be invited to a creative workshop by the creative team of the book "Happiness is a fox" by writer Evelina Daciūtė and artist Aušra Kiudulaitė.
On Sunday, poetry readings will move to the State Knowledge Center - poems about Vilnius will be performed here. Aidas Marčėnas, the author of the collection of poems about Vilnius, laureate of the National Culture and Art Prize, and other poets published in the collection will read poetry. Young Lithuanian poets will read verses in the lobby of the Lithuanian National Drama Theater on Sunday.
Most of the festival events are open and free. Tickets are on sale for the three main events of the evening. Special ticket prices will be offered to students and seniors and those who present their library card when purchasing tickets at the theater. People struggling with a serious illness or experiencing social exclusion will be invited to these events free of charge.
The festival is organized by the Reading and Cultural Literacy Association and the Lithuanian Writers' Union. Festival partners: Lithuanian National Drama Theatre, "Alma littera", State Knowledge Center, news portal "15min.lt", Lithuanian National Radio and Television, public relations agency "PR Service / Edelman Affiliate".
Festival program and information: www.facebook.lt/Vilniaus leaves and www.vilniauslapai.lt
