The Leipzig Book Fair is underway as of yesterday, and as always there is a lot of eastward looking literary fare on the agenda, kicking off today with something about Euromaidan that has Yuri Andrukhovych, Andrei Kurkov and writer and singer Irina Karpa among the panel participants (I say “something about Euromaidan” because the program is all in German so I don’t know what it is exactly. But since the participants are who they are, and not, for example, Putin and Sergey Lavrov, it’s fair to assume the panel isn’t titled “Euromaidan: How Russia Will Save Ukraine from the Nazi Threat).
Later this evening there’s a panel titled “The Forgotten War” with Andrukhovych as well as Seven Terrors author Selvedin Avdić and Literalab interviewee György Spiró (Part 1, Part 2).
There are a lot of other interesting writers and panels, and in the midst of all the various tragedies under discussion the greatest tragedy of all for me is that I’m not in attendance. And it’s not even that far away. Oh well, maybe next year.
Photo – Yuri Andrukhovych/Leipzig Book Fair
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I looked at the program for that event. The title is “Euromaidan and the transformation of Ukrainian Society” and the description indicates that the panel will discuss the phenomenon of Euromaidan that came about because of Pres. Yanukovych’s refusal to sign the EU’s association agreement. What are the Ukrainians fighting for? How has the Euromaidan changed the consciousness of the country and what does the future hold.
I was a panelist at the Leipzig Book Fair a few years ago. I recommend going if you get the chance.
Thanks, every year I do the same thing – someone asks me if I’m going, I realize I should and that it’s so close to Prague, etc. that I could probably manage it, then I take a look when it’s taking place and it’s usually a day or two away (that’s why someone asked me if I was going!) and I get angry with myself and say – Oh well, next year for sure – and then the whole scene repeats itself. Any wonder why I like Central European absurdist writing!
Maybe the cycle won’t continue next year! The good thing about the Leipzig fest is that, although very big, a lot of the panels feel intimate and the participants hang around afterward for chats.