World Literatures - Fabula Festival

Contact

Literature sveta - Fabula

Borštnikov trg 2, SI-1000 Ljubljana

http://www.festival-fabula.org/

info@zalozba.org

Phone386 (0) 1 200 3717

Organised byŠtudentska založba Publishing House

Frequencyannual

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The underlying concept of the World Literatures - Fabula Festival has been to promote readership and the culture of reading in Slovenia. The main focus of the festival is no longer on short stories but on storytelling in general; in addition to book presentations and evening readings, the festival features screenings of films based on the works by Fabula festival guests. Besides renowned European story writers, numerous Slovene authors are featured in the festival, which also includes the bestowal of the Fabula Award for the best Slovene book of short stories.

The event "World Literatures – Fabula 2010" opened the World Book Capital Ljubljana 2010 (WBC), while the 2011 edition wrapped up the WBC events in April. Recently the main venue of the Fabula Festival has been Ljubljana while pre-festival events take place in Kranj, Koper, Novo mesto and Celje.

Background

The Fabula Festival has been organised since 2004 by Študentska založba Publishing House in collaboration with Dnevnik Publishing House and since 2013 in collaboration with Radio-Television Slovenia (RTV Slovenia).

The festival started off as a Fabula Festival of Stories, taking place in several cities round Slovenia. The 3rd Fabula Festival of Stories in 2006, for example, took place in Ljubljana, Maribor, Postojna, Izola, and Koper. In three weeks the festival hosted 10 world-famous writers – Milorad Pavić from Serbia; Miljenko Jergović, Krešimir Mišanović, Krešimir Bagić, and Robert Perišić from Croatia; Claudio Magris and Diego Marani from Italy; Georgi Gospodinov from Bulgaria; Kader Abdolah from the Netherlands; and Toby Litt from the United Kingdom – who presented their work at more than 20 literary events. A public discussion entitled Dramatisation of Novels took place at the Slovene National Theatre Drama Ljubljana. Also accompanying the festival were a panel discussion about Slovene and Croatian fiction entitled Jeziki mesta [Urban Languages], and a conference on film stories. In 2007 the theme of the festival was Death and the festival featured some panel discussions involving artists, doctors, sociologists, and anthropologists.

World Literatures Fabula Festivals

As the core event of the World Book Capital Ljubljana 2010, the festival World Literatures - Fabula Festival 2010 hosted Herta Müller, David Grossman, Jonathan Franzen, Michal Viewegh, Daniel Kehlmann, and Richard Flanagan and presented the new translation of their works into Slovenian language. Screenings of the films based on the works by Fabula guests took place in Kinodvor Cinema.

The festival programme brought the book and literature into the streets and squares of the city: the promenade at Breg Street in the old city centre turned into the authors' cities: the words, music, film and smells depicted the cultures of New York, Jerusalem, Prague, Vienna, and Sydney. Music concerts featured the Chili dogs, Keel Klezmer Band, Godalika, Saxophone quartet 4saxess, AHIMSAUrban band, as well as a huge choir event: eighteen Slovene choirs accompanied by the Philharmonics orchestra sang works by Slovene poets. Secondary school students wrote down Prešeren's epic Krst pri Savici [Baptism at the Savica] on the Ljubljana promenade in free typographic forms, accompanied by the rap authors Boštjan Gorenc - Pižama and Klemen Klemen.

The events of the 2010 festival took place in Ljubljana (Cankarjev dom, Kinodvor Cinema, the City Museum of Ljubljana, the Slovene Ethnographic Museum, and Beletrina Bookshop); in Maribor (Center of Jewish Cultural Heritage Synagogue Maribor); Ptuj (Ivan Potrč Library); Ribnica (Mikl House Library); Koper (Dom knjige Bookshop); and Trieste, Italy.

World Literatures - Fabula Festival poster, 2011

From 4 to 22 April 2011 the festival "World Literatures – Fabula 2011" hosted César Aira, Niccolò Ammaniti, Per Olov Enquist, Cristoph Ransmayr, Drago Jančar, and Margriet de Moor. Again the festival presented a fabric of talks, books, and the related films, sounds, fairy tales, and images of the writers' countries. The topic of Islam was dealt with by connoisseurs from Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Turkey, the latter being the country in focus within The International Within the Local, a poetry and translation project. The international symposium focused on Edvard Kocbek, whose susceptibility to complexity and paradoxes of human psychological structure and social existence often made him a victim of the ideologically uniform times. The Fabula Award for the best Slovenian collection of short stories from the past two years was given to Lado Kralj for Kosec koso brusi (A Reaper Grinds His Scythe).

The venues of the Fabula 2011 included also hospitals, homes for the elderly, and crisis centres, as well as urban streets in collaboration with an initiative of the homeless, the magazine The Kings of the Street [Kralji ulice].

The 9th Fabula Festival in 2012 hosted Hanif Kureishi (UK), Amitav Gosh (USA), Mikhail Shishkin (RU) and Leena Krohn (FI). On this occasion a book by each author was translated into Slovene and published by Študentska založba along with a short story collection by five Slovene authors: Dušan Čater, Mojca Kumerdej, Andrej E. Skubic, Suzana Tratnik and Goran Vojnović. Authors presented their work at 5 main literary events accompanied by 20 other events such as literary readings, round tables, symposia, children’s program and other events with guests from around the world. The Fabula Award for the best Slovenian collection of short stories from the past two years was given to Dušan Čater for his collection Džehenem (‘hell’ in Turkish).

In 2013 the Fabula guests are Irvine Welsh (GB), Ilija Trojanow (BG), Eduardo Sanchez Rugeles (VE) and Dorota Masłowska (PL) along with Slovene authors: Stanka Hrastelj, Milan Kleč, Marko Sosič and Dušan Šarotar. The festival takes place from 27 February through 9 March.

See also

• Fabula Award
• Študentska založba Publishing House
• World Book Capital Ljubljana 2010

External links

• Fabula Festival website

Gallery

Opening event of Fabula Festival 2023 hosted the Ukrainian writer Oksana Zabužko, author of the novel Field Research of Ukrainian Sex, that was interpreted by drama actor Mario Dragojević. The conversation with the author was led by Ksenija Horvat.

The award-winning British writer, academic and long-time fighter for greater inclusivity in literature Bernardine Evaristo joined the 2023 edition of the festival at the so-called Itn's literary breakfast (hosted by Fabula Festival and Itn.). Photo: Nina Pernat

The artistic director of the festival Aljaž Koprivnikar at the home of the senior citizens DSO Fužine where he presented FabulaFotelj, special project of the 2022 edition of the festival, an interactive and movable armchair, equipped with audio books that was created together with prostoRož.

The virtual Q&A between Mieko Kawakami and Nagisa Moritoki Škof that was accompanied by a butoh performance by Darinka Pillari took place at the Cankarjev dom Club in 2022. It presented Summer Stories, the latest novel by Japanese author Mieko Kawakami - a portrait of contemporary womanhood in Japan.

Under the guidance of mentors (Anja Koželj, Anja Koželj, Petra Stanišič), the children went on a literary treasure hunt, which took them to museums, libraries and bookstores, where they were given hints to continue the hunt. The event was part of the Young Fabula at the 2021 edition of the festival. Photo: Jaka Gaser

The Fabula book collection of 2021 lives through the illustrations of the designer and illustrator, Jure Brglez aka Brglesita, which were presented at the exhibition at the City Hall Atria in Ljubljana. Artist is accompanied by the artistic director of the festival Aljaž Koprivnikar. Photo: Jaka Gaser

Israeli author David Grossman during World Book Capital Ljubljana 2010 in May 2010

Gašper Troha & Sebastijan Pregelj's Ljubljana Literary Trail book cover, 2010

Niccolò Ammaniti's Jaz in ti [You and Me] book cover, 2010

Authors City, Daniel Kehlmann: Vienna. In honour of the visiting author the World Literatures - Fabula Festival introduces the culture of the his home city Vienna, 2010

Literary event with American author Jonathan Franzen at Cankarjev dom during World Literatures - Fabula Festival, 2010

Herta Müller, 2009 Nobel Laureate is honoured guest at the opening ceremony of the festival World Literatures - Fabula Festival, Slovene National Theatre Drama Ljubljana in 2010

Portraits of authors by Ljubljanica river by Borut Kranjc, World Literatures - Fabula Festival, 2010

Prešeren's Coat, by Andreja Brulc, art installation using passages from the poet's longest poem Krst pri Savici[Baptism at Savica] on a new robe dressing Prešeren's monument, World Literatures - Fabula Festival, 2010

Guest author, Australian writer Richard Flanagan in Trieste, World Literatures - Fabula Festival, 2010

Comparative essay topics, a seminar about the Secondary School Graduation Essay led by Professor Nada Barbarič at Cankarjev dom, World Literatures - Fabula Festival, 2010

Young choristers performing at Song is the Voice of the Heart: Slovenian choirs sing Slovenian poets in Tivoli Park, Ljubljana World Literatures - Fabula Festival, 2010

One of several pleasantly shady open air reading spots created for The Library Under the Trees project, World Literatures - Fabula Festival, 2010

World Literatures - Fabula Festival poster, 2011

Alenka Zupančič and Slavoj Žižek at the panel Who's the One Lying Here?, World Literatures - Fabula Festival, 2015

Clément Bénech, a guest of the World Literatures - Fabula Festival in 2015. His debut book, a short novel titled L'été slovène (Slovenian Summer) was published in 2013. Moderated by Agata Tomažič.

Georgi Gospodinov, a Bulgarian poet, writer, and playwright, was a guest at the World Literatures - Fabula Festival in 2015. His novel The Physics of Sorrow, which was awarded the Bulgarian Novel of the Year prize was translated into Slovenian in 2015.

Janice Galloway, the Fabula opening ceremony guest. World Literatures - Fabula Festival, 2015

Philosopher Robert Pfaller's lecture White Lies, Black Truths at the World Literatures - Fabula Festival, 2015

A discussion The Thuth or Challenge, Literature among lies, truth and life, with Manca G. Renko, Zdravko Duša and Vesna Milek, World Literatures - Fabula Festival, Trubar Literature House, 2015

Vili Rezman (second from the left) presenting his awarded work in Konzorcij, at Mladinska knjiga Bookstores during Fabula Festival of Stories, 2009