The year's most prominent literary event in Poland offers an even broader programme geared at the industry and the public, focused around the new technology, modern distribution channels and intellectual property protection. New technologies are playing an increasingly important role in the publishing industry - this year audio-books, e-book readers, and other related services are in abundance at the Warsaw Fair, along with a conference dedicated to e-books: Electronic Books - the Future or Everyday Life.
Literary reportage is certainly a focus of the event, with May 14 marking Reportage Day, ushering in a series of meetings with the finalist of the Ryszard Kapuściński Award for Literary Reportage: Svetlana Alexievich, Peter Fröberg Idling, Wojciech Górecki, Chloe Hooper and John Pomfret. The previous day, May 13, hosts a panel with the finalists moderated by Adam Szostkiewicz of the Polityka weekly magazine, with a book signing to follow. The winner of the award is to be announced at a ceremonial gala at Warsaw's Teatr Polski on May 13, 2011. For more information on the award and this year's nominees, see: Ryszard Kapuściński Award 2011.
The previous day, the nominees for the Gdynia Literary Award and the Nike Literary Award are to be announced (May 12 at 11:00 and 13:30, respectively). Other notable events include the award ceremony for the IKAR award given by the Polish Book Publishers Association for the best books of the season, along with their Most Beautiful Book of the Year Competition, the Jerzy and Hanna Kuryłowicz Prize, the Polish Culture Foundation Award and the Książki literary magazine's Magellan Award for the best guides and cartographic publications. Children's books are also in the spotlight, with the EMPIK award for Best Children's Book, as well as a series events dedicated to children's literature and reading initiatives.
As many as 568 companies participate as exhibitors. Apart from exhibitors from Poland, representatives of the book market from Armenia, Australia, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Greece, India, Germany, Russia, Sweden, Taiwan, Ukraine and the United Kingdom are in attendance. Polish publishing companies at this year's Fair include: Arkady, Drukarnia Opolgraf, HELION, Iskry, PLATON, Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne, the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, the University of Silesia, the University of Rzeszów, W.A.B, Wydawnictwo Czarne, Wydawnictwo Naukowe Scholar, from Germany – the Frankfurt Book Fair with a collective stand of 30 German publishers and Klopotek & Partner GmbH; Greece will be represented by the company DigiBooks4All; Sweden – by the publishing house Berhs Förlag AB. Additional participants include the Czech Republic's Graspo publishing house and a group of Taiwanese publishers representing the Taipei International Book Fair and Russian publishers representing the Moscow Book Fair, along with France's BIEF (Bureau international de l'édition française) and Australian Publishers Association.
This year, the fair hosts some 300 authors presenting their latest books, includingJanusz Głowacki, Katarzyna Herbert, Hanna Krall, Antoni Libera, Lech Majewski, Adam Michnik, Mariusz Szczygieł and Andrzej Wajda. Certainly Czesław Miłosz is a major focal point of the fair, with presentations of new books on the Nobel Prize-winning author whose centennial anniversary is being celebrated across the world this year. Barbara Toruńczyk brings out her collection of correspondence Czesław Miłosz with Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz and Konstanty A. Jeleński, while Andrzej Franaszek promotes his Miłosz. Biography.
On Saturday 14 May, starting 8 p.m., the Palace of Culture's Kisielewski Hall hosts a debate organised by the weekly Kultura Liberalna, the National Centre for Culture and the Warsaw Book Fair dedicated to works by Czesław Miłosz and Stefan Kisielewski: MIŁOSZ vs. KISIEL - Poland terrifies me… / Brr! …it is both too small and too large. Miłosz fought the overexuberant patriotic-martyrological tradition, while Kisielewski - the absurdities born in the Polish People's Republic and the Poles' romantic mythologies. Even though the intellectual lineages of Miłosz and Kisielewski were quite different, as were their political and literary choices, they were equally committed to challenging Polishness. What was the result of this? Did they win, lose, tie? What remains inspiring in the topics persistently picked up by both these writers? Now, twenty years after the fall of Communism, it is worth asking, whether their assessments of the state of the Polish soul are still current.Debate participants Beata Stasińska, Andrzej Mencwel, Marek A. Cichocki and Piotr Kieżun are to be moderated by Jarosław Kuisz, the editor-in-chief of Kultura Liberalna.
The Comic Book Warsaw Festival is held for the first time as part of the Warsaw Book Fair, in addition to the Children's Book Fair dedicated to Poland's youngest readers.
The opening ceremony of the Warsaw Book Fair takes place on May 12, 2011 at 12:00 at the Kisielewski Hall of the Palace of Culture and Science. The Fair runs through May 15.
For a detailed programme of events, see: www.targi-ksiazki.waw.pl
Source: The Polish Book Institute, www.targi-ksiazki.pl