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ANNOUNCEMENT
ON MONDAY STARTS „BOOKSTAR“ 2023 – DEEPLY CONCERNED AND COMMITTED TO THE NEEDS OF THE COMMUNITY
30 September, 2023, Skopje The "BookStar" festival begins on Monday, October 2, and brings an extremely ambitious program that includes guest appearances by ten European authors, forty Macedonian participants from different generations, then representatives of renowned publishing houses and festivals from five countries from the region, awarding of the "Dragi" awards, but for the first time ever at a literary festival in our country - full orientation towards responsible behavior within the community, both in the direction of improving social conditions and inclusiveness, as well as in a strongly expressed environmental dimension.
The slogan of the festival "Please do disturb" (literally translated as „Ве молиме, вознемирувајте“) is reflected in the program activities, so that it brings authors who are interested in perceiving social problems and responding to them through their loud literary and social action. BookStar 2023 is more than an event, it is an inspiration for those who believe that today's texts drive change, offering glimpses of a world where words are no longer letters printed on paper but – a wake-up call.
In the framework of this activist approach, the winner of the BookStar prize - Najat El Hachmi from Spain, who has been fighting for women's rights for years, is also defended, but also through other authors who open burning topics in their native countries, including Lidija Dimkovska (Macedonia) who will open the Festival with her engaging speech on the topic "With or without Please".
In addition, the Festival is launching a campaign in cooperation with „"Pakomak"" to raise awareness about waste selection, but also active participation of the audience in the selection process. Besides, during the festival, special dispensaries will be set up to accept old paper and paper packaging, we will reward the audience's environmental responsibility. With at least one hundred points accumulated on the "Ekomak" application for plastic selection, eco-modern readers receive a book as a gift during the Festival.
BookStar is also the first literary festival that will offer a translation of part of the events in sign language on the stage of the "Frosina" cinema in MCC. For this purpose, it is enough for the readers to look for the „Talking hands“ / „Раце што зборуваат“ icon in the program and they will see which events are of an inclusive nature.
The first panel between four authors and their translators will be held at the Festival, in the context of the "Made in Europe: The Power of Diversity" project. Authors and translators (some of whom are authors themselves) will try to answer questions related to the art and craft of translation, but will also speak on topics related to the need for works written in lesser-used languages to be translated into major European languages, the issue of fair distribution of literary works from smaller literary circles, as well as the role of translation in increasing the power of diversity in the European literary landscape. For this purpose, in addition to writers from European countriesЛуцие Фаулерова, Франсис Кирпс, Ања Мугерли), for the Festival, in Skopje, we will have Ksenija Čočkova (translator from German who lives in Baden-Baden, Germany), Davor Stojanovski (translator from Slovenian living in the Carinthia/Koroshka area of Austria), Mariangela Biancofiore Mariangela Biancofiore (translator from Macedonian to Italian, living in Bari, Italy), and will be joined by Margareta Karajanova and Žarko Kujundjiski.
The Festival will also work on a strategy for the breakthrough of Macedonian and regional literature on the major literary markets in Europe,and for this purpose a working group of the following persons is meeting in Skopje:
Plamen Totev (Bulgaria), owner of the publishing house "Persei" from Sofia, which from 2004 until today has grown into one of the most active publishers in Bulgaria, which, among other things, has so far published 55 books by 34 Macedonian authors, and was the organizer of a large number of events with Macedonian writers.
Lamija Milišić (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Secretary of the Bosnian PEN Center and Executive Director of the Bookstan International Literature Festival.
Drago Glamuzina (Croatia), chief editor at one of the biggest publishing houses in Croatia "VBZ" and program director of the literary festival "Vrisok" from Rijeka
Aleksandar Šurbatović (Serbia), long-time editor-in-chief of Dereta publishing house and owner of Bloom publishing house.
Ena Hasečić (Bosnia and Herzegovina), editor and PR in the most agile publishing house from BiH "Buybook" ("Buybook") and project leader of several projects with the support of Creative Europe (2021-2023).
Žarko Kujundjiski (Macedonia), owner of the publishing house "Antolog" from Skopje and founder of the "BookStar" Festival.
As we have already mentioned, in the following days the cream of European literature will be gathered in Skopje, namely: Najat El Hachmi (Spain), Miljenko Jergović (Хрватска / Босна и Херцеговина), Lidija Dimkovska (Macedonia / Slovenia), Branko Rosić (Serbia), Drago Glamuzina (Croatia), Lucie Faulerová (Czech Republic), Stefan Hertmans (Belgium), Anja Mugerli (Slovenia), Francis Kirps (Luxembourg) and Sophie Hannah (United Kingdom).
The first festival program activity is the awarding of the "Dragi" 2023 awards, which will take place at the Faculty of Philology "Blaže Koneski" from 2 p.m. The following translators were shortlisted for the award: Ljubica Arsovska, Nikola Gjelinčeski, Ivan Šopov, Anastasija Gjurčinova and Zlatko Panzov,On this occasion, a memorandum of cooperation will be signed between the publishing house "Antolog" as the organizer of the award and the Faculty of Philology as their partner. As it was announced at this event, the international award "Dragi" for the most significant translation of a Macedonian author into a foreign language will be awarded to translator Alexandra Ioannidou for the translation of the book "My Husband" by Rumena Bužarovska into Greek. The personal presence of the translator for the event has also been announced.
The official opening of the Festival is scheduled from 7:30 p.m. at the "Frosina" cinema. The writer Lidija Dimkovska will declare the festival open with a ceremonial speech entitled "With or without Please". After her, the Minister of Culture Bisera Kostadinovska Stojčevska ќе ги поздрави странските гости од име на земјата, а свое обраќање ќе има и David Geer,the ambassador of the European Union in North Macedonia, will also give a speech, who will award the "BookStar" 2023 award to Najat el Hachmi (Spain) for the novel "On Monday they will love us". Immediately after the ceremony, Ana Jovkovska, journalist and literary researcher, and Aleksandar Madjarovski, poet, translator and YouTuber known as "The Reader", will talk with the award winner on the topic of "Being a (Different) Woman".
From 21:00 in the cinema "Frosina" Ivan Šopov Aleksandar Madjarovski will talk with Drago Glamuzina (Croatia) and Branko Rosić (Serbia) "what should regional literature be loud about?" Due to its atypicality, regional literature can represent an attractive "package" for the rest of Europe. After a long period of distancing, a period of rapprochement occurs. But is it time for a joint performance?
In the period from October 2-4, everyone has the opportunity to meet the authors during BookStar 2023.
The festival is held under the slogan "Please do disturb" and is supported by the Ministry of Culture, the literary network Traduki, EU with YOU, the publishing house "Antolog", and separate events from the Czech Literary Center, the Center for Flemish Literature, the European Union, the Cultural and Information Center of the Republic of Bulgaria in Skopje and the Embassies of the Czech Republic, Spain and Belgium. The festival program will take place in several locations in Skopje. Media sponsor of the event is the Macedonian Radio Television. The visual identity is the authorship of Vladimir Trajanovski,, Тhe festival video was created by Radmila Vankoska.
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Youtube
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