The 25th Vilenica International Literary Festival, organized by the Slovene Writers’ Associationand the Vilenica Cultural Society will be held from 1 to 5 September. On the evenings before the Festival, with events in Ljubljana, Gorizia (Italy), Maribor, Koper, Celje, Sežana and Bilje, as well as during the regular and accompanying programme in Lipica, Štanjel, Sežana, Lokev, Hruševje and in the Vilenica Cave, the Festival will play host to approximately 30 authors from more than 20 countries; in addition, there will be a number of academics, editors, publishers and cultural mediators from Central European and other countries.
A special place at the Festival is held by both the recipient of the Vilenica International LiteraryPrize and the spotlight on the Slovene author. Besides the grand Vilenica prize we will present, at the Štanjel matinee, the Crystal Vilenica for the best contribution to the Vilenica Almanac; we will also present the winners of the Young Vilenica, which will be awarded by the Vilenica Cultural Society. In cooperation with the Central European Initiative, for the fifth time in a row, a young author will receive a CEI Writers-in-Residence Award.
The theoretical component will revolve around the motto Who reads? The theme will be held under the microscope during the CEI round table and the 8th International Comparative Literature colloquium.
Literature from Wales will be in the foreground and presented within the framework of the project “Lesser-Known Literatures of Europe at Vilenica.” Authors’ visits will be accompanied by the publication of an anthology entitled Ffiniau aflonydd – already the fifth in the Vilenica Anthology series. Within the presentation of literary creation by Slovenes elsewhere in the world we will devote ourselves to the phenomen of Slovene writers in the countries of the EU.