THE BOOK AND THE CITY

Programme of Events

28. 4. 2010

THE BOOKSHOP KRES POD GRADOM IN THE LJUBLJANA PUPPET THEATRE (LPT): The opening of a bookshop and sales-information centre at the LPT in the Mestni dom will take place on 28th April 2010. This first specialised children’s bookshop will carry books for the 0-10 age group. On the opening day, each visitor will be given a picture book. During the opening week, reading sessions will be held in the morning and afternoon. The first 14 kindergartens to apply will be able to participate in the events at the bookshop with groups of up to 20 children. The bookshop will sell a high quality range of books, gifts related to books and their heroes, a selection of audio and video products, as well as the information programme for the Ljubljana Puppet Theatre and tickets for their puppet performances.
www.lgl.si

April 2010 – April 2011

ARTISTS APPEARANCES, SLOVENE READING BADGE ASSOCIATION – ZPMS. A programme of meetings between young people and artists from the field of books: in accordance with the wishes of kindergartens and schools, we will facilitate visits by excellent artists from the areas of literature and the visual arts, and prepare a special programme of meetings for small organised groups of children in the hall of the Slovene Writers’ Association. Particular attention will be devoted to children and young people with special needs and to socially disadvantaged groups of children, while children from the other side of the Slovene borders will also be invited to Ljubljana.
www.bralnaznacka.si

April 2010 – April 2011

A BOOK ON A TRAIN THROUGH THE CITY, Slovenske železnice d.o.o., Passenger Transport. In cooperation with the Ljubljana Metropolitan Library, Slovenske železnice (Slovenian Railways) will provide books to passengers on certain specially marked trains for the duration of Ljubljana — the World Book Capital City 2010. In the week containing the World Book Day, Slovenian Railways will organise reading events on trains, as well as taking care of the general promoti¬on of all of the projects taking place within this programme.
www.slo-zeleznice.si

April 2010 – January 2011

LJUBLJANA ON WWW.SPLETNOPERO.SI, SPLETNO PERO IN LJUBLJANA, KUD Pero. Internet literary workshops, a short story course and literary evenings. With Ana Geršak we will ask ourselves what the author really wanted to say – accor¬ding to the individual opinion of each participant. Vesna Lemaić will accompany you to the world of writing. In the autumn, it will be possible to participate in an Internet literary course on an announced topic: this year it will be a point of departure for the story of photography. The event will be accompanied by lite-rary evenings in the Internet blog and live at the Festival Sanje and in Ljubljana libraries.
www.spletnopero.si

April– October 2010

THROUGH THE STREETS OF LJUBLJANA TO SLOVENE POETS AND WRITERS, Slove¬ne Writers’ Association. A cultural-historical and literary-promotional project, connecting the birthplaces of Slovene writers and houses where they have lived and created in Ljubljana, memorials and centres of cultural literary events. The writers’ path through Ljubljana will have an educational, cultural preservati¬onal, recreational and promotional nature for Ljubljana and Slovenia. It is a commemorative, literary and Internet project that, with all of its dimensions, will decisively contribute to the development of reading culture in Ljubljana with the preservation of cultural heritage.
www.drustvo-dsp.si

April– December 2010

WRITERS ON A BUS, Slovene Writers’ Association. In an attractive way in terms of media, 100 Slovene writers will be presented on public city buses. Electro¬nic displays will be installed in ten buses, on which writers will address their Ljubljana readers with an original appearance, a story, or by reading excerpts from their works. Each writer will have approximately 3 minutes at his or her disposal, and 5 writers will be presented on each DVD, which means that on the ten routes there will be a total of 50 writers. Each DVD will have a total length of 15 minutes and will be on view from morning to evening on each of the ten buses, with a 14 day rotation. After six months, we will get to know another 50 Slovene writers of all generations. It is estimated that around 10,000 passen¬gers will view the writers every day.
www.drustvo-dsp.si

April 2010 – April 2011

THE MOBILE MOLEHILL, Založba Krtina. An environment-friendly bookshop on wheels, with which the publishing house Založba Krtina will increase the accessibility of books within the area of the Municipality of Ljubljana. It will visit various locations in Ljubljana, create new cultural venues and join various cultural events in the city. Within the framework of the Mobile Molehill there will also be programmes for children and young people, as well as specialised debates and lectures on selected topics, aimed at popularising the book and reading, and at encouraging critical thought.
www.zalozbakrtina.si

22. 4. – 14.6. 2010

AN EXHIBITION OF LITERARY VALUABLES FROM THE ELTE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY OF BUDAPEST, ELTE University Library Budapest, National and University Library Ljubljana.
In 2009, the National and University Library Ljubljana (NUL) signed a coope¬ration agreement with the ELTE University Library in Budapest. Within this framework there will be an exhibition of valuables from the collection of this venerable and important university library. In 2011, Budapest will host an exhibition of valuables from NUL. At the exhibition in Ljubljana, a selection of the most valuable treasures from the heritage of Hungarian writing will be on display.
www.nuk.uni-lj.si

29.4.2010 – 3.3. 2011

THE BOOKSHOP – CITY OF BOOKS: THE FAMOUS VISIT KONZORCIJ, Mladinska knjiga Trgovina.
Accompanied by famous media personalities, well known Slovene writers and poets will discuss the importance of books in the life of the individual and so¬ciety, and whether books can change the world, or at least change our percep¬tion and understanding of the world ... We will discuss the relationship of the author to the reader— a relationship that can at the same time be anonymous and very intimate – and how a personal familiarity with the author can influen¬ce the reader’s perception of the literary work. The literary opus of the author appearing will also be presented, along with the relationship of the famous guest towards the author’s books. We will arrange a total of 12 literary-flavou¬red evenings in friendly company and with relaxed conversation.
www.mladinska.com

April 2010 – April 2011

A FAST TRACK TO HEALTH WITH READING, Založba KRES d.o.o.. Through visiting the children’s wards of hospitals and sick children, and with the reading and bringing to life of children’s picture books, fairytale tellers, writers, authors and other well known personalities bring children closer to the book and reading culture, and as far as possible help them to survive their days in a hospital bed and alleviate their pain, loneliness and longing for home. Four times a year,
all of the young patients will be given books donated by the publishing house Založba KRES, making the book even more accessible.
www.kres.si

May 2010

KIOSK – A COMIC STRIP SHOP WITH CHARACTER, Kino Šiška Centre for Urban Culture Centre. In May 2010, Kino Šiška will open its first Comic Strip Shop with Character / bookshop / shop / reading room, which will represent a new story in Ljubljana in the selection of local and foreign publications from the area of cul¬ture and art. With a rich, carefully selected offer of Slovene and foreign authors, the Comic Strip Shop with Character will preserve the unique story of the so-cal¬led ninth art form – by occasional guest appearances of authors, by making their language more familiar to the Slovene sphere, by familiarisation with comic strip expression, and by organising workshops, seminars and monthly exhibitions. Thus with promotion, education and the presentation of Slovene authors, creati¬vity will be encouraged and the curiosity and development of future generations of young artists will be nurtured.
www.kinosiska.si

May 2010 – April 2011

THEY ARE STILL WITH US. Sezam and a consortium of societies – Institute for the Development of Creativity, Growing Book Society, Society for a Better Quality of Life in Župančičeva jama. The Regeneration of the Promenade of Slovene Cul¬ture is an interdisciplinary project to regenerate the spatial attributes of a new park in Župančičeva jama, just beside the Navje Cemetery, which is thematically connected with Slovene literature and motives of the united books of the world. A group of architects, landscape architects, sociologists, pedagogues, artists and writers, as well as interested societies, including the local society for the quality of life in the district, have together prepared a complete programme for the pro¬motion of the book, reading culture and reading in the neighbourhood or park.
All of the activities will, in an innovative and creative way, bring literature closer to various target groups, primarily children and inhabitants of the neighbo¬urhood, visitors to the park and promenaders, and will present the specific Slovene cultural heritage that is offered by this space. At the same time, it will offer content that is of interest to specific social groups, from excluded youth to handicapped children and young people. To this end, it will connect with two existing societies for invalids in the neighbourhood. The project will initiate new relationships between the public and the private. By adopting the space, it will attempt to ensure lasting access, the ongoing use of play equipment, the use of a multimedia portal, the protection of the public good – benches, the part of the park where a children’s playground will be located, a water play area and the protection of the green areas in the location. The project will also invite people to the space for outdoor picnics for fun, relaxation and contemplation.
www.zdruzenje-sezam.si

25.5. - 25.6.2010

NIGHT READING, Forum Ljubljana. Under the working title “Recreating the City” the festival Lighting Guerrilla will in 2010 be focused on installations in the public space. The purpose of the programme is to offer witty and inno¬vative creative solutions and to highlight the potential role of the artist in co-creating the public space. Part of the programme will also be linked with the book, and will be divided into three sections: evening reading in public spaces, personal reading, comic strip and visual poetry.

www.svetlobnagverila.net

May 2010

FAIRYTALE IMAGES IN THE CITY, Mladinska knjiga. Založba. An exhibition on large posters in the city centre. The project will present the greatest achieve¬ments of this important cultural segment by enlarging original illustrations by Slovene artists and by displaying them in public places present the works to the broadest possible public. The illustrations will at the same time be on display in an exhibition at the Rotovž Gallery.
www.mladinska.com

May – October 2010

ROUTE 10: THE BOOK, Bunker, Ljubljana. In an unobtrusive and innovative way, the project seeks to locate the book in the public and urban space, where peo¬ple will take it in their hands simply because it is in the right place at the right time. Bus stops are places where people wait for a bus to convey them to their desired destination. While waiting, they will find shelves at the bus stop with an interesting and diverse range of books. Initially from curiosity, and then, we hope, from habit, citizens will take the books in their hands and begin to leaf through them. The books will not be fixed to the bus stop shelves, so passen¬gers will be able to take them with them and continue reading them on the bus until they reach their destination bus stop. If the book draws them in they will perhaps take it home and, either at home or the following day on the same journey to work, school or university, read it to the end. Then they will return
the book at one of the many the bus stops in the city with bookshelves. Thus the book will re-enter the system and be available to the next citizen whose attention it grabs.
www.bunker.si

6.5. 2010 – 22.4.2011

THE PUBLICATION OF NEW BOOKS AND LITERARY EVENTS, Navdih Literary Socie-ty from Ljubljana and assistants as readers and musicians. The project encom¬passes the publication of new books containing the best literary creations by members of the society, as well as presentations of books at numerous literary events in Ljubljana: in the House of Literature, at Vodnik Home and in librari¬es, as well as in public areas in front of homes for the elderly. In an innovative way, the project encourages literary creativity and reading amongst the elderly, while at the same time improving the accessibility of books to vulnerable and socially threatened groups.
www.ljubljanasvetovnaprestolnicaknjige.si/navdih

11.5.2010
NOT EVERY WEDNESDAY IS A GREY WEDNESDAY – A BOOK ABOUT IVAN CANKAR, Založba Morfem. The book Not Every Wednesday is a Grey Wednesday is a youth novel aimed at children and young people from 12 years onwards. The purpose of the book is to bring young readers closer to Ivan Cankar in a way that they can relate to. The facts in the book are carefully arranged, so they will be inscribed in the readers’ memories in a much better and more durable way than the tiresome information in a textbook. Although it is a youth novel, it can also be used as a learning aid in Slovene language teaching.
www.morfem.si

19. - 21.5. 2010

LIBER.AC; ACADEMIC BOOK FAIR, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana.
A three-day public event with an accompanying programme, introducing a new type of book fair in the Slovene sphere, while also establishing a new cultural and communication centre in the Municipality of Ljubljana. It will connect various players from the area of the production and promotion of academic books, from university publishing houses and bookshops to university libraries. The organisers foresee that the fair will grow into an annual event at which the most recent publications from Slovene higher education publishing houses from all areas of science and the arts will be presented. This year’s event will be accompanied by a rich cultural programme entitled The Stars of Eastern Asia in the Slovene Sky, within the framework of which, amongst other things, there will be a presentation of the achievements of the scientific production of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Ljubljana in the area of Japanology and Sinology. Special emphasis will be placed on the presentation of Japanese and Chinese literature. Liber.ac will give the youngest visitors an opportunity to become familiar with Eastern Asia through the telling of Japanese and Korean
fairy tales. Within the framework of workshops, they will be able to create their own books in the Japanese way. There will also be a presentation of Chinese calligraphy and the Korean script known as hangul, as well as the traditional Japanese tea ceremony, the making of origami and Asian dance. The happenin¬gs will be enriched by an exhibition — views of Eastern Asia through the lens of the artist’s camera.
www.ff.uni-lj.si

20.5.2010, 20.00

MOUSETRAP (LITERATURE CROSSES YOUR PATH), Inštitut za raziskovanje inova¬tivnih umetnosti. Mousetrap is the first experimental literary evening to take place without a previously announced space or programme. For those intere¬sted, the instructions for participation can be obtained by sending your mobile telephone number to the following address: info@iriu.eu by 6 pm on 20 May 2010. Then you just have to put your faith in the instructions that will lead you through Ljubljana to the unusual space of the event, and to audiovisual expe¬riences of poetry. What happens when you follow the instructions of poetry? Mousetrap — an artistic game that takes over.
www.iriu.eu

28.5. – 29.8.2010

LIBRARY UNDER THE TREE TOPS 2010, Divja misel, Institute for Non-Profit Com-munication.
Reading rooms in the outdoors – Library under the Tree Tops is the only 100% natural library in the world, and it brings itself to the World Book Capital City with seven branches. On its shelves are presented the most recent publications of beautifully written and illustrated books, as well as numerous foreign and Slovene newspapers and magazines.
Reading, leafing through books and enjoyment under the following imminent city tree tops: Tivoli Park: something for everyone, The Trnovo Pier: pleasu¬re for students and humanists, Tabor Park: reading for mature readers, The Argentine Park: leafing through books for children and parents, The Botani¬cal Gardens: an island for lovers of poetry and nature, The Ljubljana Castle: welcome tourists, Breg: newspaper reading room for the cosmopolitan, Paedi¬atric Clinic Playground: we are giving children a small library in the outdoors. Ongoing announcements about the accompanying programme of Library under the Tree Tops will be available on the Internet.
www.knjiznicapodkrosnjami.si

May 2010

THE BOOK EMBRACE, Antikvariat Glavan in cooperation with the Municipality of Ljubljana. The Book Embrace is an enormous bookstall that will transform the streets of the city centre into one great open-air bookstall embracing the city centre. Second-hand bookshops and even passersby will be able to offer books at a single price of 1 Euro. Part of the profits will be donated to charity. www.antikvariat-glavan.si

4., 11., 18., 25. 6.2010, 19.00

“ONE SCOOP OF SLOVENE POETRY PLEASE.”
(Literature Crosses Your Path). Inštitut za raziskovanje inovativnih umetnosti. In an artistic way, the writers’ installation with this title plays with passersby who, in the heat, want to either cool down or sweeten up with ice cream. With the installation, the ice cream, within which are concealed selected works by the greatest Slovene poets and writers (as well as young poets and writers who are not established), gains the value of an artwork, which the tasters will rece¬ive on the memorial site of a national poet (Prešeren Square, Gornji Square). Where is the limit of the expression of poetry (if it exists)? Can passersby, at least for a instant, sense the impulse of the writer at the moment the poetry is created?
www.iriu.eu


11. – 27.6. 2010

JUNE IN LJUBLJANA 2010, Municipality of Ljubljana, Tourism Ljubljana. This year, the Municipality of Ljubljana is for the second time marking the begin¬ning of the cultural summer with cultural events in Prešeren Square, organised by the city’s public cultural institutions and non-governmental organisations under the title June 2010. At the same venue last year, between 12 and 28 June, there was a series of 60 dance performances, music performances and film projections for all generations, attended by several thousand people. The programme is designed for a wide audience, while at the same time catering to connoisseurs of music, dance and theatre, who will have an opportunity to witness quality artistic production in the outdoors free of charge. Particular at¬tention is devoted to the selection of the morning programme, which is aimed at the youngest visitors. In addition to performances by the Slovene National Theatre Opera and Ballet Ljubljana, including Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet and Young Choreographers, this year there will also be a performance of Cabaret by the City Theatre, the hit of the Slovene Youth Theatre Kekec, and numerous other attractive artistic events that will be enriched by the reading of literature by Slovene writers.
www.ljubljana.si, www.visitljubljana.si


May, June 2010

MY STREETS, the streets interweave, we tell and write the story of Ljubljana. Divja misel, Institute for Non-Profit Communication. My Streets is an attrac¬tive intergenerational exploit, in which curious gazes and roguish questions save dusty stories from oblivion. Interesting people transform themselves into the narrators of the best stories. There are always two main heroes of all of the stories: the city of Ljubljana and its faithful inhabitant. With innova¬tive approaches the selected stories will become exciting records, inspiring aphorisms, fine recordings and good Internet content.

www.mojeulice.si

June – August 2010

KNJIGARNA AZIL’S TRICYCLE, zrc sazu, Knjigarna Azil. This project (previously Azil’s Living Room) denotes the mobile branch of Azil. The tricycle will have a large chest behind it and will be present at various events taking place during summer in Ljubljana, bringing a selection of books adapted to the nature of each
june 2010 event. With the aid of the bicycle and cushions, a temporary reading room will be erected in which visitors will be able to leaf through and purchase selected literature prior to, after and during events. Part of the bicycle will be a mobile information point for the World Book Capital City (with special drawers for po¬sters). At least once a month, well known actors or public figures will be invited to cooperate by taking over the role of chauffeur and salesperson and engaging with the city bustle.
http://azil.zrc-sazu.si/trikolo

1.-6. 6. 2010, 20.-26. 9. 2010, 10.-16.1.2011

VILENICA AND LJUBLJANA, Slovene Writers’ Association. In 2010, the international literary festival Vilenica celebrates its 25th jubilee. Vilenica and Ljubljana is a series of three literary evenings at which the prizewinners of Vilenica will again present themselves to the Slovene public at the Estate Hall of the Ljubljana Ca¬stle. Twenty authors, who will reside in Ljubljana 1-6 June 2010, 20-25 September 2010, and 10-15 January 2011, will supplement the literary evenings in the city with creative work on the theme of Ljubljana and Slovenia. Their contributions will be published in a special publication in 2011. The entire project will be accompanied by a promotional campaign that will familiarise people on the Ljubljana streets with the authors and quotes from their works.
www.vilenica.si

June 2010

THE SLOVENE PEN CENTRE IN LJUBLJANA – THE WORLD BOOK CAPITAL CITY 2010. The Slovene PEN Centre is an international association of writers, poets and essayists which was established in Slovenia in 1926 for the purpose of protec¬ting persecuted writers both in Slovenia and abroad, and to advocate freedom of expression within the framework of the International PEN Writers for Peace Committee, which was established on the initiative of the Slovene PEN Centre in 1984 to promote cooperation between writers from politically turbulent coun¬tries. The organisation has organised two world congresses and 42 international meetings, which have gained a great deal of recognition within international writers’ circles. In accordance with its programme, within the framework of the Ljubljana – the World Book Capital City project, the Slovene PEN Centre will each month, except in July and August, organise a debating evening or a literary event with at least 60 participants. The debating evenings will be oriented towards questions concerning the position of language and literature in school and in pu¬blic, contemporary linguistic changes in literature and science, the attitude of the media towards authors and their work, and trends in cultural connections be¬tween authors from the republics of the former Yugoslavia. The literary evenings will be dedicated primarily to meetings between authors from various cultural regions (Jewish, Balkan, expatriate Slovene and Eastern European). Appearances by members of the Slovene PEN Centre will be included within the Ars Evenings 2010, broadcast on Radio Slovenia Third Channel – ARS

15.9.2010

THE PILGRIMAGE OF BOOKS (LITERATURE CROSSES YOUR PATH), Inštitut za raziskovanje inovativnih umetnosti. Poetry has never been an attractive market commodity; normally it is only read by art lovers. The aim of this event is to familiarise readers with contemporary Slovene and foreign poetry. Those interested can participative in the project by sending their details (name and address) to: aggressive.theatre@yahoo.com by 14 September 2010. They will then receive by post a collection of poetry to read, along with instructions on how we will expand the pilgrimage to other people in a period of 60 days. On the conclusion of the project, at the Ljubljana Metropolitan Library, all of tho¬se participating will have an opportunity to participate in a draw for generous literary prizes.
www.iriu.eu

16.6.2010, 11.00

SEM’s knowledge in books, Slovene Ethnographic Museum. A presentation of the SEM book collection in 2009 and 2010.
www.etno-muzej.si

17.6.2010, 9.00 and 10.30

THE SUN, THE EARTH, THE MOON... ROTATE WITHOUT WHEELS, Slovene Ethno-graphic Museum. A children’s festival of fairy tale reading, dance, movement and creativity.
www.etno-muzej.si

19. 6.2010, 16.00
SEM’s book bazaar, Slovene Ethnographic Museum. On Summer Museum Nights there will be a SEM bookstall in the courtyard in front of SEM – an exhi¬bition and discounted sale of SEM publications.
www.etno-muzej.si

21. 9. - 21. 12. 2010

IT WAS LATE THAT I GREW FOND OF YOU – A READING OF ST AUGUSTINE’S CONFESSIONS. Authors and performers: St Augustine / Gregor Čušin, Boris Mihalj, Jure Sešek, Dr Miran Špelič and others. In the Middle Ages, reading was far from being a personal thing, and was instead often a genuine social event. Silent reading was almost completely unknown. Reading is therefore an invita¬tion to listening and coming together. With public reading, one of the fun¬damental literary works of Christian antiquity will be presented, Augustine’s Confessions, the first extensive autobiography ever written. In an artistic inter-pretation by Slovene actors, the read word will convey us to North Africa at the end of the 4th century, where one of the giants of European cultural history will stand before us with his words, which have been translated into Slovene by Anton Sovre and Kajetan Gantar.
http://izpovedi.co.nr

25.9.2010, 10.00 – 22.00

BOOKS IN MOVEMENT, ZRC SAZU, Knjigarna Azil. A flea market of used and damaged books by Slovene publishers. A book fair that address publishers and the reading public. At the fair, publishers are invited to sell damaged books that are gathering dust in their warehouses. All publishers have significant qualities of books that are categorised as damaged because of printing errors, returns from bookstores, incorrect storage, fading due to sun exposure, etc. These books have tiny flaws due to which it is not possible to sell them in bookshops, and they are therefore significantly cheaper. In addition to publis¬hers, the organisers of the fair also encourage private individuals to bring their unwanted books and either sell them, exchange them or give them away.
http://azil.zrc-sazu.si/

March 2011

THE 14TH STORYTELLING FESTIVAL THE FAIRYTALE TODAY 2011, The Association for the Reanimation of Storytelling 2 Reels.
Since 1997, the storytelling festival The Fairytale Today has followed the basic guidelines of the festival: those appearing at the festival offer the listeners stories that they tell freely, while the narratives presented are normally drawn from the folk tradition, both of Slovenia and from abroad. Thus the festival enables listeners to experience the well told word, while providing folk tales with a living path to the present. The storytellers are people whose words flow smoothly and lusciously, and who know how to be convincing with their expressive power. They are a colourful group, both in terms of their cre¬ative paths and their age, which gives the festival a breadth of a special kind.
The organisers are guided by a conviction that even today it is possible to charm a person with something that is on first view very simple – that it is possible to touch him or her with a story that is “just” told, if it is told well and if the content is worth listening to. The increasing number of listeners every year confirms this conviction.
www.drustvodvakoluta.si

March 2011

HIDDEN TREASURES FROM LJUBLJANA’S SPECIAL LIBRARIES, Union of Associati-ons of Slovene Librarians – Section for Special Libraries. In their storerooms, Slovene special libraries store a large number of precious books, some of which are hundreds of years old. Amongst them are incunabula and other surprising printed treasures of the Slovene and world cultural heritage. For the duration of the Slovene World Book Capital, Slovene special libraries will unlock their treasuries and in one place present precious items from the 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Two incunabula will be on display, along with numerous works of antique classics and a range of works by humanist men of letters (Cicero, Pliny the Younger, Petrarch …), which have never been publicly exhibited, despite having had an important influence on the cultural image of Europe and Ljubljana. The exhibition of “hidden” books from Slo¬vene special libraries will at the same time be evidence of the significance of books for the development of science, the importance of preserving literary material, and the unchanged role of the book in spreading knowledge from the end of the Middle Ages until today.
www.zvezabibliotekarskihdrustev.si