On September 23-24, the "Open books" festival will be held in Vilnius for the fourth time, where Nobel laureate Svetlana Aleksievich will be the main guest. This year's theme is "What Literature Can Do: The Role of Writers in the Face of War," and festival organizers say the focus will be on war. in Ukraine - both in literary discussions, poetry readings and meetings with writers. At the festival, the well-known Ukrainian writer Serhijus Žadanas, who during the war was extremely active in collecting support for the soldiers and who speaks loudly about what this war means not only to Ukraine, but also to the whole world, will share his thoughts.
"This year, we are organizing the festival during the war in Ukraine, so our eyes, even when it comes to books, will be focused on what is happening there. We believe that literature can help find answers in such difficult situations, the role of writers, their moral position during the war is extremely important. An example of such an active position is the Ukrainian writer Serhijus Žadanas, who will participate in this year's festival. Of course, war in Ukraine will be the main topic of the conversation with Svetlana Aleksievich, it will permeate other parts of the program as well - it will be discussed in discussions, poets will read poems by Ukrainian authors. I believe that the festival will become another example of Lithuania's solidarity with Ukraine example", says Jurga Mandrijauskaitė-Ruškienė, director of the festival, which will be held this year at the National Art Gallery.
Svetlana Aleksijevic, who is coming to Lithuania, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2015 for "polyphonic essays that are a monument to suffering and courage in our time". The works of this writer are well known to Lithuanian readers - five of her books are published in Lithuanian, in which she writes about people traumatized by the Soviet regime, and with the help of documentary prose, she talks about the wounds of war. In her books, she is able to touch the roots of Russian nationalism, the consequences of which we are now seeing with Russia's invasion of Ukraine. By the way, S. Aleksievich also has Ukrainian blood - she was born in Ukraine in 1948, her father is Belarusian, her mother is Ukrainian. After the events in Belarus, she moved to Germany, where she still lives. "Man has never been valuable in Russia. After all, we are people of war: either we are at war or we are preparing for war. For some reason it's called life", said S. Aleksievich, whose insights about the Russian mentality are extremely relevant these days. She will be interviewed at the festival by playwright and writer Marius Ivaškevičius.
Serhijus Žadanas, one of the most famous Ukrainian writers of our time, will also participate in the "Open books" festival, although, due to the war in Ukraine, he will participate in the festival remotely. Prose writer, poet, publicist during the war in Ukraine actively joined the collection of support for Ukrainian soldiers, spreads information about what is happening all over the world. He has already visited Lithuania, his books "Internatas", "Anarchy in the UKR", "Depeche Mode" have been translated into Lithuanian. This year, the Polish Academy of Sciences nominated Serhijs Žadanas for the Nobel Prize in Literature, he became the laureate of the Hannah Arendt Prize established by the German Heinrich Böll Foundation and the Mayor of Bremen. This award is given to him for his "political thinking". S. Žadanas says that the war in Ukraine should concern the people of the whole world. "If Ukraine loses, there will be not thousands, but hundreds of thousands of victims. The blood of these victims will be on the conscience of those who are still fearlessly playing with evil, wishing everyone prosperity and peace,” he said.
The discussion program includes deep conversations about Ukraine
"Last year, while organizing a discussion forum at the festival, we saw that conversations about literature can cover much wider areas. This year, when creating the program, we first thought about the war in Ukraine - we realized how important it is to talk about what writers can do during the war. Developers will take part in the discussions, proving by example what the power of the word means at such a time. We will discuss what we learn about Ukraine both from Ukrainians themselves and from books by Lithuanian authors. In recent years, non-fiction books are also of particular importance - with the help of books, we expand our perception of the world, we can better understand the processes taking place in difficult times, and scientists are looking for ways to find their way to readers. What are those roads? This will also be discussed at the festival," said Audrius Ožalas, organizer of the "Open books" program.
One of the most anticipated discussions of this festival is called "The role of the writer in the face of war". One of the participants of this conversation is Kristina Sabaliauskaitė, a writer living in London who will come to the festival. "Literature can protect the innocent in the face of war, it must stand against evil," says the writer, whose comments about the war in Ukraine attract a lot of attention not only in Lithuania, but also abroad. Another participant in the conversation - poet, translator Marius Burokas has been very active in the dissemination of information about what is happening in Ukraine since the beginning of the war, his reviews on the social network Facebook have become one of the main sources of information about the war for many. They will be interviewed by historian Aurimas Švedas at the festival.
Another discussion concerning the events in Ukraine will be called "Writing about Ukraine: what reality of this country is revealed in the books of Lithuanian authors". It will talk about what kind of Ukraine we can get to know from the works of our writers - some of them touch on the reality of today's Ukraine, while others look at the recent past or go back a few centuries, trying to understand the context of current events. The former Lithuanian ambassador to Ukraine, Algirdas Kumža, will take part in this discussion, whose memories of his work in this country were published in the book "The Orange Novel". Dovydas Pancerov tells about how he saw Ukraine after the war started against it in the book "Land of Cyborgs" - an updated edition of the book was recently published, which also includes stories about current events. Robert Petrauskas in the book "Poltava" tells about the beginning of the XNUMXth century, and this work helps to understand the war in Ukraine today. The conversation with these authors will be moderated by journalist Audrius Ožalas.
After the start of the war in Ukraine, many readers started looking for the works of Ukrainian writers translated into Lithuanian. Although translations of both classical and contemporary works of Ukrainian writers have appeared in Lithuanian, it is still necessary to admit that there is still a lack of translations to create a broader picture. This will be discussed in the discussion "Translations of Ukrainian literature: how well do we know the works of writers of this country?" What has been translated into Lithuanian, and what is missing? Writer Antanas A. Jonynas and translator Vytas Dekšnys will discuss this topic. They will be interviewed by the literary scholar Neringa Butnoriūtė.
Recently, in Lithuania, as in the whole world, there has been a significant increase in interest in non-fiction literature. Non-fiction is an important source of knowledge of reality, expanding the boundaries of perception, it helps readers to discover previously little-known areas. Research that is able to apply academic knowledge to a wider circle of readers and present information in an attractive form is of great interest, and the festival will discuss how to write an engaging book that conveys scientific knowledge in popular clothing. One of the participants in this discussion is the historian Norbertas Černiauskas, whose book "1940. The last Lithuanian summer" became a bestseller. Architectural historian Marija Drėmaitė is an author whose research, turned into books, has become a guide to the world of architecture for many people. The discussion with the historians will be moderated by the project manager of the publishing house "Kitos knigos". ira Niauronytė-Leonidovna.
Poetry readings and meeting the authors of the most exciting new books
Meetings with Lithuanian writers, who published the most interesting works during the year, have become a tradition of the festival since the first year. This year, the works that will be presented in the "Authors' Gallery" of the festival were selected by a committee consisting of Birutė Jonuskaitė-Augustinienė, chairperson of the Lithuanian Writers' Union, literary critic Neringa Butnoriūtė, book reviewer, festival program compiler Audrias Ožalas, and Jurga Mandrijauskaitė-Ruškienė, director of the festival and chairwoman of the commission.
"After selecting the writers of this festival, we can see how colorful and diverse Lithuanian literary life is," says Jurga Mandijauskaitė-Ruškienė. - Well-known and younger poets, authors who have published new fiction books will present their books at the festival - both experienced writers and debutants. We will meet non-fiction authors dealing with various fields of reality. The lives of artists and politicians unfold in memoirs. I believe that during the festival it is possible to get a complete picture of what is happening in our world of books, and also to chat with writers in a cozy environment. Writers will be interviewed on stage by experts in the field of literature, so we are looking forward to intriguing and meaningful conversations that may help you discover new favorite writers or get to know better those whose books you have already read."
This year the festival will be attended by Vaiva Grainytė, Rolandas Rastauskas, Laurynas Katkus, Lina Buividavičiūtė, Eglė Frank, Živilė Kropaitė-Basiulė, Darius Pocevičius, Antanas Šimkus, Rasa Aškinytė, Ramūnas Liutkevičius, Dovilė Raustytė, Bernardas Gailius, Nijolė Oželytė, Ignas Staškevičius, Paulius Norvila, Lina Laura Švedaitė, Rolandas Maskoliūnas, Laura Sintija Černiauskaitė and other writers.
Last year, the festival organizers decided to expand the boundaries and included readings by young poets in the program. The readings in an informal environment received great feedback, so this year it was decided to continue the tradition. The war in Ukraine also affected this part of the program - young poets will read not only their own verses, but also those of Ukrainian poets. These verses were translated into Lithuanian by the poet Antanas A. Jonynas. Lithuanian poets participating in the event will be selected by the portal 15min culture editor Monika Bertašiūtė-Čiužienė. "Young people's poetry - texts in which you can sense how literature is changing. In addition, this year's readings by debuting Lithuanian authors will also feature poems by budding writers from Ukraine. I invite you to hear with your own ears how the new literature of the region is created", said Monika Bertašiūtė-Čiužienė.
