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ANNOUNCEMENT
THERE IS NO WORLD WHERE WOMEN DON'T HAVE TO BE WORRIED
– Najat El Hachmi, WINNER OF THE "BOOKSTAR" PRIZE
3 10.2023, Skopje With the inspiring address of the writer Lidija Dimkovska, entitled "With or without Please", the 9th edition of the European literature festival "BookStar" was opened last evening in the cinema "Frosina" in the Youth Cultural Center, at which the guests and the audience was also greeted by the Minister of Culture Bisera
Kostadinovska-Stojchevska and David Geer, the ambassador of the European Union in North
Macedonia, which awarded the "BookStar" award to Najat El Hachmi (Spain) for the novel "In Monday they will love us".
In literature, one must be radical, to go all the way
- I couldn't help but laugh at the motto of this year's BookStar - Please Do Disturb!, that is, at the polite "Please" in the command that almost none of us can hear in our lives, let alone say to someone. On the contrary, we all prefer not to be disturbed, and the same is demanded of us. Hotel rooms have a Please Clean the Room sign instead of Please Disturb, although it would be disturbing to hang a Please Disturb sign on the doorknob, so that not only the staff with a vacuum cleaner, but also anyone who passes by and feels invited or called to enter the room "disturbing". And the glass bell room for the guest, to turn into an arena of reality. But why would they do that? Reality disturbs us both uninvited and uncalled, and, of course, without a polite tone. Reality knocks us down like an earthquake, burns us like a fire, blows us up like a tsunami, melts us like an iceberg, hurts us like a traffic accident, tortures us like an incurable disease, kills us like a war - this is how Dimkovska began her address to conclude that in art, in literature one must be radical, to go to the end, that the writer must overcome himself, squeeze out all the weaknesses and powers from his own being, dive into the imaginary expanses of reality and the real expanses of imagination.
Dimkovska emphasized that literature should challenge and do everything that life must not do.
- Be it an earthquake, be it a fire, be it a flood, be it a disease, be it a war, be it a death. To disturb in order to calm, to tear down in order to build. To hit the rock of the system, undermining it, to ventilate the tradition which in its beautiful antique frames contains layers of patriarchal color in relation to many things and to many human beings, to question the concept of everything that limits, closes, does not perceive, it ignores or downplays, not with essays about collective histories but with stories about human stories. I believe in the engagement of literature when it conveys the personal story of a small piece of collective history in a subtle and literary way - said Dimkovska.
And good literature does just that. And from the opening of the "BookStar" festival, exactly that message was sent - literature should disturb!
The works of European literature – enrich the cultural space
The Minister of Culture, Bisera Kostadinovska-Stojčevska, welcomed the guests to the ninth edition of "BookStar" and emphasized that this festival represents a sincere contribution to the mutual acquaintance of authors and works from domestic and European literature, building a new dimension of friendship independent of cultural and language barriers.
- The works of European literature enrich the cultural space in a noble way, affirming the literature of European languages. Your works have the universal power to connect us and introduce us to different worlds, to disturb us, challenge us and provoke us to think, leading us to ask questions about life, love, experience, social challenges and many other aspects of being human. existence.
Today we are here under the motto "Please disturb!", and this is not accidental, because literature, as an expression of human imagination and creativity, often not only disturbs but also transforms our reality. At this Festival of European Literature we listen to the voices of writers as diverse and numerous as European nations and cultures. Through their works, we immerse ourselves in multiple worlds, disturb, think and think again. Every page, every letter stimulates our mind and shapes our understanding of the world - said the minister.
She said that literature is a means of transformation and with your activity and engagement, you can make the world better, wiser and more inspiring.
The audience was also greeted by David Geer, the ambassador of the European Union in Macedonia, who, inspired by the address of writer Lidija Dimkovska, did not read his prepared speech, but said that writers are the ones who should speak because they have something to say and know it best. He spoke about his first experiences with reading and said that it doesn't matter if children understand what is in the books when they read, but that they must continue to do so, because one day they will look back on what they have read and it will become clear.
- It is my pleasure to welcome you at the beginning of this BookStar festival, supported by the EU delegation - and for good reason. I am happy that this edition of BookStar takes place simultaneously with the EU delegation's campaign to promote the Macedonian language and literature. And before the 10th edition of the EU award for young translators - Babylon. About 420 novels by European writers have so far been translated into Macedonian and published with the support of the EU. Let's strengthen this cultural exchange.
The diversity of Europe – in culture, in languages and in thought – is our greatest asset. It is a source of creativity, innovation or inspiration - said Ambassador Geer.
He congratulated this year's BookStar Award winner, Najat El Hachi, and wished the participants an inspiring exchange throughout the festival, and book lovers to enjoy many new good reads.
There is no world where women don't have to be worried because they are women
After the welcoming speeches, the winner of the "BookStar" prize, Najat El Hachmi, stood on the stage, and on the topic of "Being a (different) woman" she spoke with Ana Jovkovska, journalist and literary researcher, and Aleksandar Madjarovski, poet, translator and YouTuber known as The Reader. She is a Moroccan-Spanish writer who writes on feminist topics. She was born in Nador (Morocco) in 1979. At the age of eight, she emigrated with her family to Catalonia. She studied Arabic literature at the University of Barcelona. She started writing when she was twelve years old, at first for fun, and later as a way to express her own thoughts, but also to shed a different light on her own reality composed of (at least) two cultures to which she belongs.
- We live in a time when there is a lot of talk about mental health, probably because some problems in society have not yet been overcome. Women even in societies that are supposed to be open, such as Spain, where I live today, and where although there is a strong feminist movement, women face discrimination, even rape and murder. They do not control their own body, it belongs to the husband, the family, the environment. Sexuality is not openly discussed, it still succumbs to the norms set by the patriarchy - said Najat.
She emphasized that there is no world in which women should not be worried because they are women and that such a world she wishes and tries to create through her books.
The book "In Monday They Will Love Us", which, like her other works, is a feminist reading both in Spain and in the rest of Europe. The novel was published simultaneously in Catalan and Spanish in 2021 and exactly two years later it also appeared in Macedonian translated by Lara Prokopieva. "In Monday They Will Love Us" won the Nadal Prize in 2021, Spain's oldest literary award for the best unpublished novel in the Spanish language, and in October 2023 it deservedly won the BookStar Award for the most significant novel published in Macedonia between two festival editions.
We in the region have a common youth, but also a common transition
Last night in the "Frosina" cinema, Ivan Šopov and Aleksandar Madjarovski talked with Drago Glamuzina (Croatia) and Branko Rosić (Serbia) on the topic "What should regional literature be famous for?". The focus was on their new books, but also regional literature as an exotic package for Europe and the world.
- The fact is that in these spaces there is a common heritage, some common codes, a connection, but each writer needs to find his voice and do what he does to the best of his ability. It is true that something exotic is being sought outside the region, something that is typically regional, some wars, transition, it passes more easily abroad, but I don't think that only because of that we should all write on those topics - Glamuzina said.
According to Rosić, we in the Balkans have a common youth, but also a common transition, and that is what connects us.
- In Europe, regional literature requires some specificity, some defect, otherwise it is not interesting. In Cannes, films that deal with the mud win here, there certainly won't be any "Trainspotting from Tetovo" - joked Rosić in his recognizable charming style, also characteristic of his literature.
He added that we live in a time without ideology, that a revolution requires frontmen, but there are none because today's youth are more practical, they see that the revolution is not profitable.
Both agreed that literature should have subversive power and not only entertain, that it must also deal with the present, although not through a chronicling journalistic approach but to penetrate deeper.
Today on the program
October 3rd, 9:30 a.m. – Faculty of Philology "Blaže Koneski"
Department of Slavic studies
Meeting between students and Lucie Faulerová (Czech Republic)
October 3rd, 10:00 a.m. – Faculty of Philology "Blaže Koneski"
Library of romanian languages and literatures
Meeting between students and Najat El Hachmi (Spain)
October 3rd, 9:30 a.m. – Skopje City library “Miladinovci Brothers”
"Creating sustainable partnerships between the region and the rest of Europe" – the first fellowship convention of publishers*
Participants: Plamen Totev (Bulgaria), Lamija Milišić (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Drago Glamuzina (Croatia), Aleksandar Šurbatović (Serbia), Ena Hasečić (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Žarko Kujundjiski (Macedonia)
Moderator: Radmila Vankoska
*The event is of a closed character.
October 3rd, 12:00 p.m. – Skopje City library “Miladinovci Brothers”
"Please Do Disturb” – book reading in the language preferable to writers
Guest writers: Najat El Hachmi (Spain), Miljenko Jergović (Croatia/Bosnia and Herzegovina), Anja Mugerli (Slovenia), Francis Kirps (Luxembourg), Lucie Faulerová (Czech Republic), Stefan Hertmans (Belgium), Branko Rosić (Serbia), Drago Glamuzina (Croatia), Aleksandar Šurbatović (Serbia)
Domestic participants: Vlada Urošević, Lidija Dimkovska, Josip Kocev, Katerina Šoško, Davor Stojanovski, Nikolina Andova-Šopova,
Ande Jankov, Simona Jovanoska, Aleksandar Rusjakov
Moderator: Ana Golejška Djikova
October 3rd, 4:00 p.m. – Small Cinema Hall, MKC
How to be a Slammer?
Creative workshop with Francis Kirps (Luxembourg)
October 3rd, 5:00 p.m. – Small Cinema Hall, MKC
"Naked lunch" podcast with Duško Krstevski and Miljenko Jergović (Croatia/BiH)
October 3rd, 6:00 p.m. – Small Cinema Hall, MKC
"Naked lunch" podcast with Duško Krstevski and Francis Kirps (Luxembourg)
October 3rd, 7.00 p.m. – Cinema "Frosina" – with sign language translation
"A Spare Fatherland from Our Time"
Conversation with authors Miljenko Jergović (Croatia/BiH) and Lidija Dimkovska (Macedonia)
Moderators: Aleksandar Madjarovski and Biljana Crvenkovska
October 3rd, 8:00 p.m. – Cinema "Frosina"
"Disturbing stories"
Conversation with authors Stefan Hertmans (Belgium) and Francis Kirps (Luxembourg)
Moderators: Aleksandar Madjarovski and Biljana Crvenkovska
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.
@antolog_mk
@bookstar_festival
Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPMeZZYy8_NAAGJ4bUR3OeA
