Programme

Pre-Opening Events
The day before the official opening on 4 Sept a series of Pre-Opening Events will take place. In Ljubljana we will play host to the much acclaimed Swedish poet, prose writer and translator Tomas Tranströmer who has often been mentioned as a candidate for the Nobel Prize for literature. The Pre-Opening Event organized in collaboration with the festival Ex-Border from Gorizia (Italy) will feature the Italian prose wroter Roberto Pazzi. The literary evening with the Serbian prose writer David Albahari will be organized in collaboration with theCentre for Slovene literature and the daily Primorske novice.

Official opening of the 22^nd Vilenica Festival and presentation of the CEI Fellowship
The opening of Vilenica will take place in the Hotel Club atrium in Lipica. Welcome notes will be followed by the announcement of the fellowship winner. The Central European Initiative in collaboration with the Slovene Writers’ Association will present the CEI Fellowship for Writers in Residence as part of the Vilenica festival. The fellowship seeks to encourage cross-border cooperation and promotion in the field of literature for young writers from Albania, Belarus, BiH, Montenegro, Croatia, Macedonia, Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine. The international jury members: Jani Virk, Lucija Stupica, Patrizzia Vascotto, Ludwig Hartinger and Vanesa Matajc will consider the application forms and select three shortlisted candidates who will be members of the Vilenica festival, with the recipient of the fellowship being announced at the opening ceremony. Last year, the recipient of the fellowship was Goce Smilevski from Macedonia.

Literary readings
Literary readings in the original languages are a regular feature of the Vilenica festivals. In the Karst villages and elsewhere in Slovenia, live readings are given by established authors from Central European countries who are invited as guests to the 22nd Vilenica. The presenters are selected by the Vilenica jury with the aid ofconsultants. Authors from Central Europe will be competing for the Crystal Vilenica award.

Literary readings at Vilenica 2007:

Wednesday, 5 Sept, 8 p.m.
Lipica, Valley of the Mother of God

Thursday, 6 Sept, 7 p.m.
Koper, Regional Museum
Hruševje by Postojna, St Daniel’s Church
Lokev, St Michael’s Church

Friday, 7 Sept, 5 p.m.
Ljubljana, Slovene Writers’ Association Summer Garden