International literary festival Bookstan to gather world literary names in Sarajevo again

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - This year's International literary festival Bookstan in Sarajevo will be held from July 3 to 6. One of the largest festivals in the region for the fourth year in a row gathers the most significant writers and literary critics from the region and the world. 

“We look forward to the arrival of Buybook authors who no longer live in Bosnia and Herzegovina but were born there and are building their successful literary careers around the world,” announced the Directorate of the International literary festival Bookstan.

“We are also pleased to announce new publications in Buybook’s production, specially prepared for their premiere at Bookstan with the arrival of guests who will celebrate certain anniversaries, as well as a supporting program dedicated to other fields of art, such as the photo exhibition by Milomir Kovačević Strašni and Rudolf Kutzli's exhibition 'Bogumili' (Cathars).”

The program of the previous three festival editions was defined by curators or the language in which authors write, and the Bookstan festival hosted authors selected by Aleksandar Saša Hemon, one of the most significant contemporary world writers and a co-founder of Bookstan. The second festival had German as its program framework, hosting authors who write in German, regardless of whether it was their mother tongue or the language of the country they emigrated to. The last festival edition was marked by the selection of Geert Mak, the curator of the third Bookstan, one of the most significant European writers and journalists, and a long-time Buybook author.

BOOKSTAN WORKSHOPS 

Since its inception, the International literary festival Bookstan has organized workshops for young literary critics, fully funded by Buybook Publishing House and the Open Society Fund Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

At the upcoming Bookstan, a workshop on the topic of Literary Column will be held from June 30 to July 6. The workshop will be led by literary critic Vladimir Arsenić. Twenty students from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia will participate in the workshop.

“Developing literary-critical thinking is important not only for the literary field and its organization but also for promoting and reflecting on cultural values as such, as well as for destabilizing cultural identities and policies that are dominant and largely ossified in their own national, academic, or narrow professional dogmas. Literary criticism serves precisely to recognize, expose, and make visible these dogmas, not only within the system of literature and culture but also in society as a whole,” stated this year's workshop leader Vladimir Arsenić.

PHANTOM OF FREEDOM

At the fourth Bookstan, the selection of authors from around the world was determined by the central festival themes, which this time are “Phantom of Freedom” and “Citizen of the World.” 

On the ruins of a world that once existed and in circumstances that completely changed after the wars of the nineties in the former Yugoslavia, thanks to writers, journalists, and numerous dedicated intellectuals, a common cultural space or space of freedom has been recreated, within which people, regardless of the official policies of the countries they came from, connected and gathered around literature, as well as around literary and news magazines that were beacons of freedom and progressive thought. 

Within the “Phantom of Freedom” program, the Bookstan festival will host those who were the most active fighters for the restoration of a common cultural space after the wars of the nineties and who gathered around Buybook in its early days, as books were the first thing that crossed the borders of the newly established states. 

“In the program commemorating Buybook’s beginnings, we will also remember those who are unfortunately no longer with us, such as the late Predrag Lucić, one of the most significant South Slavic writers and journalists,” stated the Directorate of the International literary festival Bookstan.

CITIZEN OF THE WORLD 

“The second festival theme of the upcoming Bookstan will be Citizen of the World, on the occasion of which numerous international authors are coming to discuss overcoming national concepts and insisting on pure identities. This theme builds upon our central festival motto No East, No West and the need to create a space beyond territorial borders and limitations, a space of community within which communication occurs in the universal language of solidarity and recognition of the differences that connect us.”

During the first three years of the festival, Bookstan hosted nearly 200 domestic, regional, and international authors, including: Rabih Alameddine, Frank Westerman, David Mitchell, Rawi Hage, Kamila Shamsie, Hanif Kureishi, Mona Eltahawi, John Freeman, Amila Buturović, Ece Temelkuran, Dubravka Ugrešić, Miljenko Jergović, Bekim Sejranović, Ilija Trojanow, Faruk Šehić, Xiaolu Guo, Vladimir Pištalo, Damir Karakaš, Nellja Veremej, and many others.