Book Fair Guest Of Honor Slovenia On The ‘Blue Sofa’
Last Monday, Bertelsmann’s “Blue Sofa” literary format welcomed three Slovenian authors to Bertelsmann Unter den Linden in Berlin 1, where they presented their works and discussed them with the audience. Slovenia is this year’s Guest of Honor at the Frankfurt Book Fair, which starts next Tuesday.
Slovenia is the Guest of Honor at this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair, which begins next Tuesday. To kick off the most important industry event of the year, the “Blue Sofa” literary format welcomed three Slovenian authors at Bertelsmann Unter den Linden in Berlin last Monday to present their works. The numerous guests who gathered in Linden Hall at Unter den Linden included the Slovenian ambassador and the ambassador of Italy, next year’s Guest of Honor at the Frankfurt Book Fair.
Katja Stergar, director of the Slovenian Book Agency and manager of Slovenia’s Guest of Honor appearance at the fair, began by presenting the concept of this year’s Guest of Honor appearance together with Juergen Boos, director of the Frankfurt Book Fair. In conversation with moderator Ariane Binder, they gave an overview of the Slovenian program in Frankfurt, designed by the curatorial team with the motto “Honeycombs of Words.” Afterwards, the Slovenian authors Ana Marwan (Otto Müller Verlag), Goran Vojnović (Folio, Btb) and Mojca Kumerdej (Wallstein Verlag) presented their latest books “Verpuppt,” “18 Kilometer bis Ljubljana,” and “Unter die Oberfläche”. Ariane Binder and Eric Marr moderated the talks.
The audience clearly enjoyed about the three writers and their very different books, which led to entertaining, but also thought-provoking conversations. Following the event, the evening ended with Slovenian specialties, good company, and interesting conversations. The guests had the opportunity to ask the authors further questions and have their books signed.
The “Blue Sofa” will make its next appearance next week at the Frankfurt Book Fair. On Tuesday evening at 8 p.m., the newly crowned winner of the German Book Prize will come to the opening of the “Open Books” reading festival on the “Blue Sofa,” which will be set up at the German National Library for the occasion. The event is already sold out with 375 guests. Other authors on the “Blue Sofa” that evening are Isabel Schayani, Thomas Hettche, and Aleš Šteger. All “Blue Sofa” events during the Frankfurt Book Fair will soon be available in the “Blue Sofa” media library.
