October 4, 2024, Skopje Over the past ten years, "Bookstar" has transformed into a unique literary spectacle that brought full halls and full hearts to the four festival days. This is the main impression of the participants and visitors of the tenth anniversary edition of the Festival of European Literature, which was held from September 30 to October 3 under the motto "Metamorphosis" or "Transformation" and in honor of the centenary of the death of Franz Kafka. In addition, at the same time, the 25th anniversary of the existence of the publishing house "Antolog", the organizer of this Festival, was also marked.
The rich and exclusive program was the reason for every book lover to find his own corner where he could inspire his mind and soul, so that literally every event was bursting with positive energy and the audience got what they came for.
This year's festival brought top European authors: Miřenka Čechová (Czech Republic), Paola Peretti (Italy), Kristian Novak (Croatia), Faruk Šehić (Bosnia and Herzegovina) Igor Marojević (Serbia), Rumena Bužarovska, José Luís Peixoto (Portugal), Zdravka Evtimova (Bulgaria) and Jón Kalman Stefánsson (Iceland), as well as Alessandro Baricco (Italy). Of course, the festival would not be what it is, if numerous local authors and artists were not part of it.
A large number of foreign writers came to Skopje for the first time and on leaving they expressed their admiration and satisfaction with the atmosphere and organization of the festival, especially for the third day of the festival when they enjoyed Macedonian music together, creating unforgettable moments. Faruk Šehić spent part of his free time fishing with local fishermen, while Bulgarian author Zdravka Evtimova was amazed by the warmth and cordiality of the people and noted that this will grow into a festival on a European level. Miřenka Čechová was surprised by the size and attendance of Bookstar, while Italian writer Paola Peretti encouraged readers to keep reading and follow their dreams. The Portuguese writer José Luís Peixoto will remember the new friendships he made during the festival, as well as the Macedonian readers he met. The Serbian writer Igor Marojević will remain with the memory of the delicious pastramajlija he tried, while Alessandro Barrico expressed his immense gratitude for the special award and said that in the future he would also like to physically visit the Festival. Bookstar award winner Jón Kalman Stefansson from Iceland admitted that this was something different from anything he had attended and encouraged readers to read more.
In addition to the authors, renowned European publishers were part of the festival, so the representatives of the publishing houses and the authors had the opportunity to meet with Nadège Agullo (France) – executive director of the publishing house "Agullo" from Bordeaux; Tino Schlench (Austria/Germany) – curator for the literary program of "Cultural Summer" – Vienna, Austria; Giorgia Spadoni (Italy) - Translator and external collaborator, Bottega Errante Edizioni – Udine, Italy Manol Peykov (Bulgaria) - owner of the publishing house "Janet 45" - Plovdiv and of the Sofia Literary Agency - Sofia, Bulgaria; Benjamin Langer – translator from Macedonian to German and collaborator of "Traduki".
The first day of the festival was opened by the Macedonian writer Rumena Bužarovska. In front of numerous guests, writers, poets, translators, publishers, as well as lovers of the written word, in his speech he addressed the problems in literature and translation, the (un)profitability and the luxury of being part of this art.
The founder of the festival and editor-in-chief of "Antolog", Žarko Kujundjiski, also gave his address, who emphasized the importance of this anniversary, and expressed his gratitude to everyone who has supported this festival so far.
- "Bookstar" has been an inspiration for ten years. Inspiration for writers, for readers, for the silenced and inspiration for the forgotten. Who did "Bookstar" inspire? First of all, all of us here, from the hardworking teams behind the festival, to the entire literary, media and social public. But it also inspired the guests from every corner of Europe - said Kujundjiski.
The theme of the first literary evening was trauma and perseverance, and the audience had the opportunity to hear a conversation with the authors Paola Peretti from Italy and Miřenka Čechová from the Czech Republic. The event was moderated by Biljana Crvenkovska and Dragica Stamenković, and there was a translation in sign language. The evening ended with a DJ set by Ogipsilon/Sure Shotz.
On the first day of the festival, a creative workshop was held with Ana Golejška-Djikova in the Skopje City Library „Brakja Miladinovci", where the publishing house "Antolog" donated books with Braille, an exhibition of children's drawings on the theme "Drugarče" as well as two podcasts, which they were led by Duško Krstevski, and the guests were José Luís Peixoto from Portugal and Zdravka Evtimova from Bulgaria.
The ethnic, political, social, but also personal struggles in the works of several Balkan authors were the central themes of the so-called "Balkan (K)nights", which took place on the second festival evening.
The conversation with the authors Kristian Novak from Croatia, Rumena Bužarovska from North Macedonia, Faruk Šehić from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Igor Marojević from Serbia, was led by Vladimir Jankovski.
The evening will end with a literary stand-up performance by Marjan Georgievskiwhich lasted almost ninety minutes instead of half an hour, and during the day a literary reading "(The) Transformation"/"The metamorphosis", led by Pepi Stamkov and at which five domestic authors (Olivera Kjorveziroska, Vasko Markovski, Biljana Stojanovska, Živko Grozdanoski, Ana Golejška-Djikova) and five foreign authors presented themselves, then Paola Peretti from Italy held a creative workshop for children and teenagers, and a podcast with Kristian Novak from Croatia and Jón Kalman Stefánsson from Iceland, there was Duško Krstevski. Also, in the morning, the traditional informal tourist tour "When the writer walks writers" was organized, which was led by Vasko Markovski, through which the guests got to know part of the historical and cultural milieu of Skopje and our country.
The third festival day had the most intensive program. "Literary opening to Europe - Macedonian experience" - the second convention of representatives of the publishing sector as part of the Publishing Europe Fellowship program was held. The event was held at the Faculty of Philology "Blaže Koneski" - Skopje, where Miřenka Čechová and Paola Peretti had a meeting with the students. At the convention, a variety of positive practices were expressed by the Macedonian and foreign participants in the promotion of literature created in languages with a small number of speakers, and opinions and suggestions were also shared on how to make Macedonian literature easier to find in foreign markets.
As part of the same event, the site www.writers.mk was promoted for the first time, which is a huge step forward in the promotion of Macedonian literature on the international markets, and was creatively designed and founded by the publishing house "Antolog". This platform will bring to one place the information about the most current domestic authors, currently available in English, and further on in other world languages, through which foreign publishers will be informed about our contemporary literature.
To Anastasija Gjurčinova and to Benjamin Langer the "Dragi" awards were presented.
The "Dragi" award for the best literary translation into the Macedonian language went to Anastasija Gjurčinova, for the translation from Italian of the work "The Intimate Life" by the author Niccolò Ammaniti Amaniti published by "Antolog", while the German doctor of sciences and translator Benjamin Langer won the the annual international award "Dragi" for the translation of the novel "Pirej" by Petre M. Andreevski,andin the year when the ninetieth anniversary of his birth is remembered. The jury committee for awarding the prize was composed of: Prof. D-r Zorica Nikolovska president), a representative selected from the Faculty of Philology "Blaže Koneski", D-r Jana Mihajlovskaa member of Dragi Mihajlovski's family, and Vladimir Jankovski, a representative selected from the "Antolog" publishing house. In "Europe House" - Skopje, a panel discussion "Reading and Translating Kafka" was held in honor of the world commemoration of the centenary of the death of Franz Kafka. The participants were university professors Zorica Nikolovska, Venko Andonovski, Sonja Stojmenska-Elzeser, Benjamin Langer (Germany), Jasminka Delova-Siljanova, as well as the translator Boban Zdravkovski Andreevski.The panel discussion was moderated by Žarko Kujundjiski.
The following events were memorable. Aleksandar Madjarovski, in "Laboratorium" had a conversation with José Luís Peixoto and Zdravka Evtimova. Powerful literary as well as human messages were sent, and this conversation was followed by the audience with intense applause almost after every answer of the authors, something that is rarely experienced at literary events in our country, and sign language translation was also provided.
The "Bookstar" 2024 award was also solemnly awarded to Jón Kalman Stefánsson for the trilogy "Between Heaven and Hell", and Aleksandar Madjarovski and Nikola Madjirov led a conversation with him.In one place, the Icelandic writer referred to the power of literature today: "I want to change the world with writing, I want to reach people."
The evening ended with traditional Macedonian music. The concert of "Čalgija Sound System" shook the visitors, and everyone had the impression that Dobrila Grašeska’s voice was calling for a deep spiritual journey. The attendees followed the two-hour concert on their feet, singing the songs, and the atmosphere culminated in a dance led by the audience and joined by the foreign participants.
The Bookstar European Literature Festival closed with the event "The Literary Metaphysics of Alessandro Barrico: Metamorphosis of the Imagination", which included an online conversation with the author Alessandro Barrico from Italy. The Italian writer received a special "BookStar" X10 award for outstanding achievements in literature. Among other things, he said: "Both reading and writing are real, they are part of life. You are creating something. And if today I have to review all my work, all the novels I've written, I can't say that it's only an escape from reality. No. But for a specific, slightly twisted way to inhabit reality. A way to be in reality, not to run away from it. A way to change from within. From below. You're basically building worlds. When you write a story about a man who draws the sea with seawater, you create a world. That image enters the collective imagination, as it entered mine. And then the world gets bigger. And he runs away, they can no longer hold him back. And I think it's a huge effort to build that world, not just an escape. Not only for me, but also for my readers." The conversation with him was led by Vladimir Jankovski, and Anastasija Gjurčinova gave an opening speech.
On the last day, two closed events were held: "Publishing Europe Fellowship" and "Smart Talk", which were a combination of professional and informal meetings between the five foreign and the dozen domestic publishers, translators, writers and cultural managers. Foreign publishers also had an informal tourist tour "When the writer walks writers", which was led by Tijana Milikj.
As part of the Festival, the tenth Fair of European Literature was organized, which offered books by the participants but also by other European writers, as well as by the winners of the European Union Literature Prize. Also, in cooperation with "Pakomak", boxes were set up for collecting old paper, and for all users of their "Antolog" application, free books were given to encourage the selection of waste, and above all PET packaging. Also, the interest of the media houses was huge and they supported us with hundreds of different publications and interviews, for which we are grateful.
Queues for book signings, toasts, changed and expanded horizons, bursts of energy, an unprecedentedly rich program, all this is easy when the goal is to achieve the highest level of work and a brand that we will all be proud of. The metamorphosis may be complicated, but afterwards the heart shines like a polished diamond. The authors and the audience of this year's edition of the festival were polished diamonds. And they will shine in us for a long time.
The festival is held under the slogan "The Metamorphosis" and is supported by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of North Macedonia, the literary network Traduki, EU with YOU, the Embassy of the Czech Republic and Republic of Italy, the Cultural and Information Center of the Republic of Bulgaria in Skopje, the Italian Institute of Culture in Belgrade, the Icelandic Literary Center and the "Camões" Language and Cooperation Institute. The media sponsor is the Macedonian Radio Television. The visual identity is the authorship of Maja Plačkoska, who also produced the festival video.
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