"BOOKSTAR" 2024 WILL CELEBRATE A DECADE OF TRANSFORMING SOCIETY AND LITERATURE!!
June 27th 2024, Skopje – The Festival of European Literature “BookStar” 2024 has shared its visual identity of the 10th, jubilee Edition of the Festival, which will be held from September 30th until October 3rd on different locations in Skopje, North Macedonia. The slogan of the festival, which every year challenges creative thinking and engagement is „Преобразба“ (The Metamorphosis), and is inspired by the works of Franz Kafka.
“In the year when we commemorate 100 years of the death of one of the biggest authors of the 20th century and the author whose work has established an eternal inspiration for reimagining literature and the human being, we decided to include Macedonia in the world trend of commemorating said event. Especially, because 2024 is an important year for us – “BookStar” celebrates its 10th birthday, and “Antolog” as an organizer of the Festival and publisher of the works of Franz Kafka, its 25th birthday, under the motto “25 years Antolog is a classic”. Therefore, the Festival will promote the works that hold the power to make everything possible, works that will capture the unimaginable and are written by authors who have personally experienced metamorphosis¬ – say the representatives of the organizer who noted lots of ongoing and new activities. метаморфозата – велат претставници на организаторот кој најави и многу тековни активности и новитети.
New festival website
Starting from today www.bookstar.mk is the new website of the Festival, where literature lovers can read both in Macedonian and English all of the former events regarding “BookStar”, alongside with news for the ongoing and new activities. Apart from that, this website provides plethora of photos and videos that keeps the memories of all the ups and downs from the last nine editions of the Festival. BookStar had the biggest names in the world of literature: Slavenka Drakulić, Najat el Hachimi, Stefan Hertmans, Igor Štiks, Sjón, Miljenko Jergović, Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer, Jela Krečič Žižek, Michal Viewegh, Slobodan Šnajder, Niccolo Amaniti, Svetlana Aleksievich, Saša Stanišić, Eugene Vodolazkin, Yrsa Sigurðardóttir, Jussi Adler Olsen, Hakan Nesser and lots of other authors from almost all European countries, and dozen of Macedonian writers. The enthusiasm with which the organizer and the participants contribute to the Festival, “BookStar” continues to spread its literary and societal relevancy becoming both regional and European famous.
Second Fellowship program “Publishing Europe”
Starting today, on the BookStar website holds the call for the Second edition of the Fellowship program, „Објавувајќи ја Европа“ (“Publishing Europe”) whose main goal is to invite professionals in the literary world to visit our country and to meet their Macedonian and European colleagues and authors. The Festival hosts meetings of international representatives of publishing houses, agents, book festival managers, writers and translators to strengthen this sector and to open up possibilities for an exchange of literary works between different parts of Europe. The call is open until July 10th. The Fellowship program and the publisher’s convention taking part in “Bookstar” will be realized with the help of the program Creative Europe 2021 – 2027 -- subprogram Culture of the European Union in the category Circulating of European Literary Works in the scope of the project “Made in Europe: Power of diversity”.
Festival Identity
This year the Festival poster is the work of Maja Plačkoska and it pairs with the Festival’s topic, by grasping an artistic and a progressive variant, where the personal transformation which we go through becomes a tool that helps us get to the most important human gain – freedom. Difference is not always a handicap, but can be a feature with which we can get our place under the Sun, a topic in which the Festival had and has a leading role.
Social responsibility
Just as the previous, this year’s “BookStar” will upgrade the cooperation with all the participants to raise awareness around selecting waste, and will empower the audience in the process of waste selection, and will continue its mission to offer sign language interpretation on some of the events, to be a manifestation of an inclusive character.
“Dragi” Award
We point out to the audience that this year’s BookStar” Festival will again hold the “Dragi” awards, in two categories, established in the honor of remembrance of the works of university professor and translator Dragi Mihajlovski PhD, and in order to evaluate translation production, as well as to highlight the value and importance of translation for our cultural space. For the award one can participate with books published between July 1st 2023 and June 30th 2024, and the deadline for the delivery of the works is July 1st, 2024. The submitted translations will be evaluated by a three-member committee consisting of translators, writers and literary critics. The award for the best translation in the Macedonian language consists of a diploma and a "Dragi" statuette, as well as a monetary part amounting to 30,000 denars. The "Dragi" international award is given to the most significant translation of a work by a Macedonian author into a foreign language and consists of a "Dragi" diploma and statuette, as well as an opportunity for the translator to be part of the second edition of the "Publishing Europe" fellowship program.
Donate for a better program!
The "BookStar" 2024 festival is supported by the Ministry of Culture of North Macedonia, the literary network Traduki, EU with YOU and the publishing house "Antolog". Considering that the planned program activities exceed the budget funds available to the Festival, from this year an opportunity is open for all companies and individuals to support "BookStar" through a special section on the new website. Although similar calls have so far not been met with an adequate response, we hope that the previous edition that elevated the Festival to one of the most significant literary events in the region and this year's anniversary will be an incentive with their contribution to help for a better program and participants and to raise the brand with which we are all proud. For us, it is most important to move together towards higher goals and to carry out the necessary transformation of our society and culture!
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