Baltic Countries Market Focus

BALTIC COUNTRIES Market Focus 2018

Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania

10 - 12 April 2018

Contact Information

Opening Times Tuesday 10 April:

Wednesday 11 April: Thursday 12 April:

9.00 – 18.30 9.00 – 18.30 9.00 – 17.00

The London Book Fair Olympia London Hammersmith Road Kensington London, W14 8UX

Professional Programme The London Book Fair Sheerin Aswat T: +44 (0)20 8439 5484 E: sheerin.aswat@reedexpo.co.uk www.londonbookfair.co.uk Cultural Programme British Council Harriet Williams T: +44 (0)20 7389 4457 E: harriet.williams@britishcouncil.org www.britishcouncil.org/literature Press Enquiries Midas Public Relations Nicola Green T: +44 (0)20 7361 7860 E: nicola.green@midaspr.co.uk Press Enquiries British Council Karolina Szlasa T: +44 (0)203 285 3659 E: karolina.szlasa@britishcouncil.org

The Estonian Literature Centre www.estlit.ee International Writers’ and Translators’ House, Latvia www.latvianliterature.lv The Lithuanian Culture Institute www.lithuanianculture.lt

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Contents

Introduction Letter

2

Introduction to Lithuanian Literature

32

Events – Olympia

4

Lithuanian Writers

34

Events – London

9

Lithuanian Translation Fellowship

38

Events – UK

12

Pop Up Creators

40

Other Activities

13

Panellists

41

Events – Professional Programme

14

Estonian Publishers

48

Introduction to Estonian Literature

20

Latvian Publishers

51

Estonian Writers

22

Lithuanian Publishers

53

Introduction to Latvian Literature

28

Partners

58

Latvian Writers

28

Notes

64

1 | The London Book Fair Baltic Countries Market Focus 2018

The London Book Fair Baltic Countries Market Focus The London Book Fair, with its longstanding Market Focus Cultural Programme partner the British Council, and this year in partnership with three international institutions – the Estonian Literature Centre, International Writers’ and Translators’ House, Latvia and the Lithuanian Culture Institute – is delighted to welcome The Baltic Countries Market Focus into the spotlight for 2018.

Since the launch of the Baltic Countries Market Focus programme last year, publishers, booksellers, producers and writers from the UK and Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have been engaging with each other’s markets through a number of targeted seminars and delegations.

The focal point of all this activity is a celebration of contemporary literature and publishing from the Baltic Countries that will mark this year’s Market Focus.

The London Book Fair Market Focus programme aims to strengthen cultural and business relations, educate the global publishing community about literature and contemporary authors from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and help publishers from the Baltic Countries to promote their books and literature to an international audience via the fair.

The Cultural Programme, curated by the British Council and detailed in these pages, presents the writers visiting The London Book Fair through seminars, readings and events in and around the fair.

These provide the opportunity for some of the finest writers from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to discuss a wide variety of topics in front of an engaged international literary audience and to meet their international peers. Crucially, it offers exposure for rights and export sales from the international publishing community.

Also in these pages you will find the Professional Programme, which runs concurrently at the Fair and offers opportunities for those interested in learning about the business-to-business aspects of the publishing industry in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The Professional Programme is curated with The Publishers Association, a strategic advisory partner to The London Book Fair.

2018 is the centennial of the independent republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, an anniversary which is being marked all over the world.

There can be no better time to look at the cultural and commercial opportunities presented by The London Book Fair Baltic Countries Market Focus 2018, and we are delighted to welcome you to the programme.

— Jacks Thomas Director, The London Book Fair and London Book & Screen Week Cortina Butler Director Literature, British Council

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Tuesday 10 April

Events – Olympia A dialogue between poets: Baltic and UK poets explore memory and history with Maarja Kangro, Kārlis Vērdiņš, Tomas Venclova and Nick Makoha; chaired by Ellen Hinsey 13.00 – 14.00, Poets Corner Maarja Kangro (Estonia) has published five collections of poetry, revolving around themes of ephemerality, desire and redemption. Kārlis Vērdiņš (Latvia) is the author of six collections of poetry for adults and children, containing work that is gentle, vivid and intimate as it explores ideas of coming to terms with one’s self. Tomas Venclova (Lithuania) is Professor Emeritus of Slavonic Literature at Yale University, and his poems have been translated into many languages. They will discuss the political and aesthetic dimension of memory and history alongside British poet Nick Makoha in an event chaired by Ellen Hinsey.

Andrei Ivanov in conversation with Tim Marshall 13.30 – 14.00, English PEN Literary Salon Estonian-born, Russian-speaking Andrei Ivanov is the author of six novels and winner of several high-profile awards and has been shortlisted for the Russian Booker Prize twice.

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Writing history as fiction: the Baltics and beyond with Kristina Sabaliauskaitė, Rein Raud and Leila Aboulela; chaired by Alex Clark

Revealed or lost in translation: literature from the Baltics with Kārlis Vērdiņš, Maarja Kangro, Christopher Moseley and Romas Kinka; chaired by Daniel Hahn

16.00 – 17.00, Cross Cultural Hub 16.00 – 17.00, Literary Translation Centre Why are writers drawn to the past, and why do readers follow them there? What do historical novels tell us about the past, or the present?

Which universal themes occur in any time period? Kristina Sabaliauskaitė, whose Silva Rerum saga – set in the years 1659-1795 in the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth and across England, France, the Netherlands and Germany – is considered Lithuania’s most important literary event of the past decade, and Rein Raud, whose recently-translated novel The Death of the Perfect Sentence takes place in Soviet-occupied Estonia, discuss these questions with Leila Aboulela.

How much can be ‘lost’ or ‘revealed’ by translation? How does a translated work co-exist with the original? And how can we translate different genres such as poetry, folk songs and dialects? Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian are very different languages, and their idiosyncrasies make them undeniably challenging to translate. In this session Latvian writer Kārlis Vērdiņš and Estonian writer Maarja Kangro discuss their experiences of translating and being translated. We’ll also hear from translation experts Romas Kinka (Lithuanian) and Christopher Moseley (Estonian, Latvian) on the experiences and methods of translating from Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian into other world languages. Chaired by Danny Hahn.

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Wednesday 11 April

Finding new voices: children’s literature from the Baltics with Luīze Pastore, Roger Thorp, Aušra Kiudulaitė, Penny Thomas, Emma Wright and Ulla Saar; chaired by Pam Dix 10.00 – 11.00, Children’s Hub Each of the Baltic countries has a flourishing children’s book market, previously little known in the UK. This panel discussion explores the publication choices of several UK children’s publishers and introduces the authors / illustrators and the books they have chosen to publish. We will look at the journey to publication and what these books will bring to the UK children’s market.

Author of the Day: Nora Ikstena 13.00 – 13.30, English PEN Literary Salon The British Council presents Latvian Author of the Day, Nora Ikstena, one of the most visible and influential prose writers in Latvia.

Author of the Day: Mihkel Mutt 14.00 – 14.30, English PEN Literary Salon The British Council presents Estonian Author of the Day, Mihkel Mutt, widely considered one of the most provocative contemporary Estonian authors.

Programmed by IBBY UK & Firefly Press

Sinking Europe? European narratives in times of change with Mihkel Mutt, Kristina Sabaliauskaitė, Tomas Venclova and Sathnam Sanghera; chaired by Katy Guest 10.00 – 11.00, Cross Cultural Hub Is Europe sinking, rising, or just changing?

We discuss this with Mihkel Mutt, author of several highly-praised books on Estonia’s transition from a Soviet republic to part of the free world; Lithuanian Kristina Sabaliauskaitė, whose historical novels look at the changing state of Europe across the 17th and 18th centuries; Tomas Venclova, whose poetry has explored the issues of life under totalitarian rule; and writer Sathnam Sanghera, whose work as a journalist and a writer engages with a changing Europe.

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Interpreting cultures through language: Russia, Europe and the West with Andrei Ivanov, Rein Raud, Sergej Timofejev and Menna Elfyn; chaired by Sasha Dugdale 14.30 – 15.30, Cross Cultural Hub Estonian-born Andrei Ivanov grew up in a Russian proletarian family, and his novels, though set in Estonia, are written in Russian and focus on Russian characters. He has won several high-profile awards and has been shortlisted for the Russian Booker Prize twice.

Estonian writer Rein Raud combines prolific literary activities with a successful academic career as a cultural theorist and philosopher.

Sergej Timofejev is a member of the Latvian Russian poetry collective Orbita. Orbita not only creates multimedia poetic work but actively seeks to create dialogues between Russian and Latvian speaking authors. Menna Elfyn’s poetry has been published in bilingual English and Welsh editions.

In conversation with Sasha Dugdale, join us for a discussion on the opportunities and limitations of writing in-and-out of different languages.

Author of the Day: Kristina Sabaliauskaitė 15.00 – 15.30, English PEN Literary Salon The British Council presents Lithuanian Author of the Day, Kristina Sabaliauskaitė, whose historical saga Silva Rerum, set in 1659-1795, is considered to be the most important literary event of the last decade in Lithuania.

Transformations: women’s writing from the edges with Undinė Radzevičiūtė, Nora Ikstena and Alys Conran; chaired by Bidisha 16.00 – 17.00, Cross Cultural Hub Nora Ikstena’s novel Soviet Milk, a Latvian bestseller recently translated into English, looks at the lives of three women – daughter, mother and grandmother – during 20 years of socialist rule. Undinė Radzevičiūtė’s internationally praised novel Fishes and Dragons depicts the clash of Chinese civilisation and the Christian world of the West, and the fundamental questions that this clash raises.UK writer Alys Conran, who has worked with disadvantaged groups to increase access to creative writing, and whose novel Pigeon examines the roles of the voiceless in society, will join us to discuss women’s writing – as a term to be embraced, rejected or complicated – with Bidisha.

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Thursday 12 April

Undinė Radzevičiūtė in conversation with Georgina Godwin

Inga Ābele in conversation with Nicolette Jones

10.00 – 10.30, English PEN Literary Salon

13.00 – 13.30, English PEN Literary Salon

Undinė Radzevičiūtė is an internationally acclaimed writer, the author of five novels and a collection of short stories. Her writing is distinguished by its laconic style, its subtle black humour and broad cultural contexts.

In 2015 she was awarded the European Union Prize for Literature.

Inga Ābele is a prose writer, poet and playwright and is the author of three novels and three collections of short stories. She is one of the most important Latvian writers of her generation due to her unique style, which embraces the richness of language and human psychology.

Writing the city: Baltic spaces, British places with Kristina Sabaliauskaitė, Inga Ābele and Vahni Capildeo; chaired by Steven Fowler

Through a child’s eyes: Baltic and UK perspectives on fiction writing with Nora Ikstena, Alvydas Šlepikas, Luīze Pastore and Rebecca Stott; chaired by Claire Armitstead

10.00 – 11.00, Cross Cultural Hub 13.00 – 14.00, Cross Cultural Hub What attracts writers to cities, and what is it about a city that inspires writers? What happens to an author – or their writing, or their characters – when their own identity comes into contact with that of a city? Kristina Sabaliauskaitė, whose works of fiction have seen her shortlisted for the ANGELUS Central European Literary Prize in 2016, joins Latvian poet, prose writer and playwright Inga Ābele. Ābele’s work is known for the deep psychological portraits of her characters, and the effect of the space they find themselves in throughout their narratives. Vahni Capildeo’s Measures of Expatriation explores the self in migration in a series of poems that follow a character as she attempts to “remake” herself in modern cities. This seminar is chaired by Steven Fowler, who works on cross-national poetry collaborations through the Enemies project, and whose poetry is influenced by its environment.

Claire Armitstead chairs this discussion about writing stories from childhood, or from the perspective of a child. Recent novels by Latvian writer Nora Ikstena and Lithuanian author Alvydas Šlepikas have both explored childhoods lived out under oppressive regimes – Ikstena’s novel Soviet Milk looking at three generations of women over 20 years; Šlepikas looking at the orphans known as ‘wolf children’, who came as refugees to Lithuania at the end of the Second World War. Luīze Pastore is a writer of children’s literature whose recent book Dog Town tells the story of a boy and his band of talking dogs, fighting evil in a concrete jungle. Rebecca Stott’s memoir In the Days of Rain tells the story of her life in an ultrahardline Christian fundamentalist creationist sect.

Here, these writers compare their work, and the effects of their childhoods on later life.

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Monday 9 April

Events – London Luīze Pastore at Moon Lane Ink 14.30 – 15.30 Moon Lane Ink, 300 Stanstead Road SE23 1DE Latvian writer Luīze Pastore joins us at Moon Lane Ink to introduce us to her characters Jacob Bird and his grumpy cousin Mimi. Strange things are afoot in the run-down Maskatchaka district of Riga, where Jacob lives. Evil Skylar Scraper’s scheme to transform it into a concrete jungle is being fought tooth and paw by stray dogs, led by their fierce commander Boss, his mate Bianca and their twin puppies. Luīze will tell us all about her gang of talking dogs, the evil plots they foil and how Jacob’s fight against Skylar goes much further than he ever imagined. £3, book online: www.moonlaneink.co.uk/events

Being Baltic: at the crossroads of influence with Mihkel Mutt, Nora Ikstena and Kristina Sabaliauskaitė 19.30 – 21.00 Knowledge Centre, British Library, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB Explore the literary influences of European, Russian and Nordic cultures on contemporary Baltic authors.

Three leading Baltic writers — Mihkel Mutt (Estonia), Nora Ikstena (Latvia) and Kristina Sabaliauskaitė (Lithuania) — join us to discuss the literary influences of European, Russian and Nordic cultures on their work. Mikhel Mutt is an Estonian writer and versatile columnist, writing about domestic and world politics. Prose writer and essayist Nora Ikstena is considered one of the most influential prose writers in Latvia, known for her elaborate style and detailed approach to language. She is also an active participant in Latvia’s cultural and political life.

London-based Kristina Sabaliauskaitė is the most widely read Lithuanian author, and her Silva Rerum historical saga is considered to be the most important Lithuanian literary event of the last decade. £10 (£7 concessions) Book online: www.bl.uk/events/ being-baltic-at-the-crossroads-of-influence

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Tuesday 10 April

Thursday 12 April

Re-writing Europe: Rein Raud in conversation with David Szalay

World Poets Series with Tomas Venclova, Kārlis Vērdiņš and Maarja Kangro; chaired by Clare Pollard

18.30 – 19.30 Daunt Books Hampstead, 51 S End Rd, Hampstead, London NW3 2QB Booker Prize shortlisted novelist David Szalay joins us to talk to acclaimed Estonian writer Rein Raud. David Szalay’s 2016 book All That Man Is deals with European masculinity in crisis. In it, nine different men in scattered parts of Europe try to understand what it means to be alive.

Rein Raud’s work engages with, among other things, Europe as a cultural and political ideal – and as a utopia. His most recent novel in English, The Death of the Perfect Sentence, speaks about “little people” caught in the wheels of history, during the fall of the Soviet power. They will discuss the ways that literature is shaping and reflecting the changes in Europe, and whether fiction can build bridges across the divides that history has created. £5, Book online: www.dauntbooks.co.uk/product/rein-raud

20.00 – 21.30 The Poetry Library, Level 5, Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London SE1 8XX A discussion on the history and culture of Lithuania, on the occasion of the Centenary of the Restoration of Lithuania’s Independence.

Join us for this one-off event with visiting Baltic poets. The evening will showcase three of the most celebrated poets from the Baltic states, Maarja Kangro (Estonia), Kārlis Vērdiņš (Latvia) and Tomas Venclova (Lithuania). The poets will read from their work and then discuss the poetry scene in their respective countries with a Q&A that will open up to the audience. The event will be hosted by Clare Pollard, UK poet and editor of Modern Poetry in Translation.

FREE (ticketed) Book online: www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on

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Children of history with Nora Ikstena, Alvydas Šlepikas and Sara Taylor; chaired by Carolyn Jess-Cooke 19.00 – 20.15 Free Word Centre, 60 Farringdon Road, Clerkenwell, London EC1R 3GA How does a country’s history or identity affect its ideas of family and family life? The Baltic countries of Lithuania and Latvia have lived through some tumultuous 20th century history.

Two writers from these countries, Nora Ikstena and Alvydas Šlepikas join Sara Taylor to unpick the thorny connections between national history and the intimate relationship of the family.

Chaired by Carolyn Jess-Cooke.

In partnership with English PEN. Book online: www.freewordcentre.com/whats-on/coming-up

Writing from the edges of Europe: what’s the future for Baltic literature? with Andrei Ivanov and Erika Lastovskytė; chaired by Nadia Beard 19.00 – 20.00 Calvert 22, 22 Calvert Avenue, London E2 7JP Miscast variously as Nordic neighbours, former Soviet states and “the East”, the Baltic countries continue to fight against a case of mistaken identity on the world’s stage.

So how do Baltic authors engage with their real heritage – individually and nationally – and how do they move beyond it to create something new? Estonian author Andrei Ivanov’s recent historical novel The Harbin Moths explores his country’s interwar years through the lives of the local Russian intelligentsia. He is joined by translator and publicist Erica Lastovskytė in an event chaired by Nadia Beard to discuss the past, present and future of the Baltic literary identity.

Book online: calvert22.org/exhibitions-events

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Friday 13 April

Events – UK Story Café: stories from the Baltic States with Inga Ābele and Maarja Kangro; chaired by Donna Moore

Apples and Snakes presents Hit the Ode with Kārlis Vērdiņš, Dylema Collective and Oakley Flanagan

14.00 – 15:30 Glasgow Women’s Library, 23 Landressy Street, Glasgow G40 1BP

19.45 – 22.30 Patrick Centre at Birmingham Hippodrome, Hurst Street, Southside, Birmingham B5 4TB

Two writers from the Baltic States will be joining us at the Glasgow Women’s Library to read from their work, talk about their own writing, and explore the position of women writers in their own countries.

A not-to-be-missed Story Café Special.

Apples and Snakes presents Hit the Ode, Birmingham’s premier poetry night. Every month, Hit the Ode brings the most exciting poets from the region, the country and the world to the heart of Birmingham. Join us at our new home, The Patrick Centre, Birmingham Hippodrome for poems from all across the world. We have poems and lots of them. Poems to ruffle feathers and caress your heart strings. Poems that will challenge your nan to a hip-hop cypher.

Poems that taste like hot cocoa. Good poems.

Great poems. Come and get them.

£2 (FREE concessions) Book online: womenslibrary.org.uk

Literary worlds with Undinė Radzevičiūtė 18.30 – 20.30 Europe House, 32 Smith Square, London SW1P 3EU

£5 advance (£8 on the door) Book online: www.birminghamhippodrome.com

Join us at Europe House for an evening with Lithuanian writer Undinė Radzevičiūtė. Undinė is an internationally acclaimed writer, the author of five novels and a collection of short stories, and winner of the European Union Prize for Literature. The novel that won this prize, Fishes and Dragons, is a story about civilisations, of Chinese traditions and Western religion.

Followed by a wine reception.

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March 2018 – February 2019

Other Activities: Throughout the year, writers from the Baltics will appear at major literature festivals in the UK including:

UK writers will appear at major literature festivals in the Baltics including:

Essex Book Festival 1 – 31 March 2018

HeadRead, Estonia 23 – 27 May 2018

StAnza 7 – 11 March 2018

Dzejas Dienas (Poetry Days), Latvia September 2018

Hay Festival 25 May – 4 June 2018

Vilnius Pages, Lithuania November 2018

Edinburgh International Book Festival 11 – 27 August 2018

Prozas Lasījumi (Prose Readings), Latvia 4 – 9 December 2018

Birmingham Literature Festival October 2018

Vilnius Book Fair, Lithuania 21 – 24 February 2019

London Literature Festival October 2018

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Tuesday 10 April

Events – Professional Programme Pushing the limits of graphic stories: spotlight on the Pop Up Creators Project with Lina Dūdaitė, Simona Jurčiukonytė (Lithuania), Ulla Saar, Anna Pikkov (Estonia), Oskars Pavlovskis, Sanita Muižniece (Latvia), Will Grill (UK). Chaired by Bhavit Mehta (UK).

10.00 – 11.00, Children’s Hub Pop Up Creators is an international exchange of outstanding and emerging illustrators and comic artists across the Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the UK, produced by Pop Up Projects and funded

by Arts Council England. Join a panel of artists, mentors, tutors and publishers involved in this exciting project as they discuss their experience of the process and the main outcomes from it. We ask whether their experimentation with text, image, language and layout in the leporello format has helped think ‘outside the box’ and move away from traditional forms of illustration.

Lost histories unearthed – revisiting the forgotten tragedies of Lithuania and Eastern Europe 10.00 – 11.00, Cross Cultural Hub Lithuanian authors have increasingly revisited forgotten episodes from 20th century history.

In 2018 and 2019, two outstanding pieces of survival literature will be published in the United Kingdom: In the Shadow of Wolves by Alvydas Šlepikas, exploring the story of the ‘wolf children’ – German refugees in Lithuania in the aftermath of World War II, and Shadows on the Tundra, the extraordinary memoir by Dalia Grinkevičiūtė – a testimony to her family’s deportation to the Siberian gulag. Rosie Goldsmith talks with Alvydas Šlepikas and publishers Juliet Mabey (Oneworld) and Meike Ziervogel (Peirene Press) about why it is important to write and publish stories that help familiarize readers with the forgotten tragedies of Eastern Europe. What is the significance of such stories in light of today’s refugee crisis?

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Translating illustrated children’s books: the challenges of text and image 11.30 – 12.30, Cross Cultural Hub In many beloved children’s books, text and illustration are inseparable. This poses a range of problems for translators and editors: what to do if the English text doesn’t fit around the images as neatly as the source language?

When the work uses rhyme and rhythm, how can these be carried over to a new context without the words losing touch with what the images depict? And what are the challenges of selling and buying rights, especially those particular to illustrated children’s books?

Join Emma Wright of the Emma Press, who oversees a growing list of translated children’s poetry, alongside Latvian publisher Alīse Nīgale, translation specialist Lawrence Schimel, and picture book publisher Greet Pauwelijn for a discussion of how to get things across.

Get connected to Baltic books! Publishing markets in the Baltic countries: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania. A general overview of the publishing industry with Tauno Vahter (Estonia), Renate Punka (Latvia), Aida V. Dobkevičiūtė (Lithuania). Chaired by Simon Littlewood

Though the events of the 20th century, including two world wars, 50 years of Soviet occupation, and the regaining of independence in 1991, are all historical factors the three countries share, their societies, cultures, and languages are markedly different. One can say that Estonians and Latvians have more in common when we look at history, while Latvians and Lithuanians have a special connection due to the fact they speak Baltic languages.

Picture books like no other: the unique vision of Piret Raud 17.30 – 18.30, Cross Cultural Hub Piret Raud’s stories are characterised by unexpected plots and eccentric or downright bizarre characters. Thames & Hudson publisher, Roger Thorp, and the Estonian author will focus primarily on picture books: what does an interesting picture book consist of? How has Raud’s work evolved in response to this? Is the author influenced by particular books, authors or illustrators? Are there trends that she consciously resists? Are there any distinctly Estonian characteristics in her work and how might these play out within the Estonian, Baltic States and wider Scandinavian and European traditions of book illustration? The discussion will also give a glimpse into Raud’s soon to be published picture book The Ear by Thames & Hudson.

13.00 – 14.00, Cross Cultural Hub When looking on the region, a usual question for an outsider is whether you can consider the Baltics as one market, or whether there are three separate markets.

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Wednesday 11 April

Promoting reading – experience and ideas from the Baltics Speakers: Triin Soone (Estonia), Silvija Tretjakova (Latvia), Rūta Elijošaitytė-Kaikarė (Lithuania). Chaired by Daniel Hahn

Imagining Lithuania: 100 years, 100 visions.

Speakers: Marija Drėmaitė (Lithuania), Eglė Rindzevičiūtė (Lithuania), Tomas Venclova (Lithuania). Chaired by Edward Lucas 13.00 – 14.00, Cross Cultural Hub

11.30 – 12.30, Children’s Hub Reading is a fundamental skill everyone needs in order to find their way in the world, to compete in the job market, and be a part of society.

One of the most effective ways to promote reading skills is to involve children, young people and families in reading and develop their interest in literature. It’s a challenge, especially as people are confronted with a constant flow of information from online information, social media, and apps at almost every step. However, there is some encouraging news: Eurostat research from 2014 says that 68% of Europe’s inhabitants read books regularly, and that 31% go to the library.

This shows that reading books is a popular way for people spend their free time.

At the seminar, each of the Baltic countries will present activities for promoting reading that have been designed for different audiences in order to involve them in reading, boost their imagination, and develop a joy for reading in an era of new challenges.

This year, Lithuania celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Restoration of Lithuania’s Independence. In the years since 1918, Lithuania has assumed its place in European and world history and developed a modern civil society that understands the importance of freedom and the duties that come with it. This discussion is an opportunity to revisit a century of Lithuaian history through an exploration of political, academic and cultural visions. The history of 20th century Lithuania is a story of the tenacious efforts by its society to rebuild a free country and the constant attempts by outside forces to suppress that freedom and impose their own rule and visions for the future. The dreams advanced

by Lithuania’s national governments, public organisations and people reflect both a desire to create an independent future and a constant confrontation with historical reality, presenting us with an opportunity to explore Lithuanian history from different perspectives, revealing the contradictions, dynamism and diversity of the past century.

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From Soviet state-sponsored textbooks to digital learning and teaching materials in thirty years: educational publishing in the Baltics with Kadri Rahusaar (Estonia), Sintija Buhanovska (Latvia), Jurgita Nacevičienė (Lithuania). Chaired by Helga Holtkamp

From Soviet state-sponsored textbooks to digital learning and teaching materials in 30years: educational publishing in the Baltics.

Speakers: Kadri Rahusaar (Estonia), Sintija Buhanovska (Latvia), Jurgita Nacevičienė (Lithuania). Chaired by Helga Holtkamp

16.00 – 17.00, The Faculty 16.00 – 17.00, The Faculty This year, Lithuania celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Restoration of Lithuania’s Independence. In the years since 1918, Lithuania has assumed its place in European and world history and developed a modern civil society that understands the importance of freedom and the duties that come with it. This discussion is an opportunity to revisit Lithuania’s hundred-year modern history through an exploration of political, academic and cultural visions.

The history of twentieth century Lithuania is a story of the tenacious efforts by its society to rebuild a free country and the constant attempts by outside forces to suppress that freedom and impose their own rule and visions for the future.

The dreams advanced by Lithuania’s national governments, public organisations and people reflect both a desire to create an independent future and a constant confrontation with historical reality, presenting us with an opportunity to explore Lithuanian history from different perspectives, revealing the contradictions, dynamism and diversity of the past century.

This year, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are celebrating the centenary of their independence.

Independent statehood, however, was in all three countries reinstated short of 30 years ago.

The process involved many reforms in all walks of life, education included, and necessitated the introduction of a new educational programme, new curricula, new study materials. In what way has educational publishing developed during these 30 years? What sort of an impact does technological progress have on study materials?

How have schools adopted digital materials, and are schools/teachers prepared to accept and implement them? Do the current educational policies support the preparation of and transition to digital learning and teaching materials?

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Wednesday 11 April

Created in Latvia: Imants Ziedonis as a Symbol of Freedom, Joy and Creativity 17:30 – 18:30, Club Room, National Hall Gallery Poet Imants Ziedonis is considered a legendary figure in Latvia. Born in 1933, one could say that he lived in five Latvias during his lifetime – one that was free and prosperous (1918 –1940), one that endured an occupation and humiliating deportations (1940), one that suffered from a hopeless and merciless war (1941–1945), one that suffered from a second occupation and more deportations (1945–1991), and finally, one that was once again independent and free starting in 1991. As a young poet during the Soviet occupation, he understood that his calling was to write, so that with the power of the word he could preserve and strengthen Latvia’s identity.

Readings and events he participated in were always special occasions, with several thousand people in attendance. In order to honour his work, several Latvian cultural figures including well-known musicians like Renars Kaupers, Goran Gora and Māra Upmane-Holšteine, came together to form the Viegli Foundation, which embodies his ideas in the form of music, books, concerts, and campaigns which resonate with a broad audience in Latvia today. Representatives from the Viegli foundation and The Little Cavalry Music Association will talk about the Imants Ziedonis phenomenon in an experimental seminar that includes musical performances.

18 | The London Book Fair Baltic Countries Market Focus 2018

Thursday 12 April

Publishing literature in translation 11.30 – 12.30, Cross Cultural Hub Why have Estonian publishers in recent decades translated and published such a large selection of literature from the United Kingdom? What sort of an impact has translated literature had on Estonian culture? The founder of MacLehose Press, Christopher MacLehose talks to Krista Kaer, the editor-in-chief of Estonia’s largest publishing house Varrak and the powerhouse behind the HeadRead literature festival. Krista Kaer has translated from English into Estonian nearly 100 works of fiction, and has brought dozens of major celebrated British and Irish authors to speak at the festival.

of book fairs, literary residencies and new festivals, both local and international. Speakers from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will provide a snapshot of literary activity in the Baltic region – from festivals and book fairs to writing residencies. In such a rapidly growing market, what are the main challenges faced by event organisers? How do they balance their own priorities with those of their audiences?

What exciting new ideas and initiatives can we expect in future?

Why print your books in the Baltic countries? with Artūras Karosas (Lithuania), Ģirts Karlsons (Latvia), Margus Liivamägi (Estonia).

Chaired by Ed Nawotka.

13:00 – 14:15, The Buzz Theatre

Presentation of the main literary events and literary residencies in the Baltics with Rūta Elijošaitytė-Kaikarė (Lithuania), Juta Pīrāga (Latvia), Marja Unta (Estonia). Chaired

by Peggy Hughes (UK).

11:30 – 12:30, High Street Theatre Are literary events just about books? What is their purpose? Is it to see our favourite authors on stage, hear them read from their books and engage in conversation? Or is it just a chance to meet authors, queue up to get their autographs on our first editions and ask them questions?

Literary event audiences attend for different reasons and literary event organisers have different priorities. The Baltic countries host a wide range of literary events and their publishing market is growing, with a busy calendar ahead

As average print runs of books continue their steady decline, the number of titles keeps growing, and the publishing business is attracting an increasing number of small publishers. Printing industry representatives from all three Baltic countries discuss recent developments in the sector and the mechanisms of coping under new circumstances and new pressures. What measures have been taken to reach and maintain high standards? What have been the greatest challenges faced by the industry, and what are the advantages presented by new technologies?

To what extent can printing houses offer flexibility to their customers? We’ll answer these questions and discuss why printing in the Baltics offers distinct advantages – affordability, proximity, expertise – and why you should consider it as an option for your future print needs.

19 | The London Book Fair Baltic Countries Market Focus 2018

20 | Estonia

Introduction to Estonian Literature Estonia is a tiny patch of land on the verge of ice (jääääremaa). We have been brought up in the forest, fought in the forest, and we still talk to trees. At one point, we grew bored of that and invented Skype. The Estonian population is estimated to be 1.3 million. and is decreasing.

To keep our heads above water, we introduced e-residency. We are introverts by nature; we do not talk much. Instead, we have enjoyed one of the highest literacy rates in the world for a couple of centuries and counting. More than half of Estonia is still covered by forests. Our only excuse for cutting down a section of it would be to build bookshelves or make books – or to set up Rail Baltic. The first printed book in the Estonian language appeared in 1535, and the printing business has been far from foreign to us ever since (read Meelis Friedenthal’s The Language of Angels). True, we have long hidden our treasure trove of literature, locked up by a language that is alien to Indo-Europeans.

Werewolves and ghostly beings are not a part of fantasy, but of classical Estonian literature (read August Kitzberg’s Werewolf or Andrus Kivirähk’s November). Encounters with wild bears are not rare in our woods (read Nikolai Baturin’s The Heart of the Bear or Andrus Kivirähk’s The Man Who Spoke Snakish). We believe that we are a hardworking breed, and that toil is the key to love (read Anton Hansen Tammsaare’s monumental Truth and Justice). Historically, Estonia has been subject to the rule of the Danes, Germans, Swedes and Russians (read any of the works of Jaan Kross, our grand old master of historical novels). You can still stroll the streets of the medieval Hanseatic towns of Tallinn and Tartu, but first, read the Apothecary Melchior murder mysteries by Indrek Hargla, or The Willow King

by Meelis Friedenthal. The Soviet occupation brought strange bedfellows (read Rein Raud’s Death of the Perfect Sentence, Jaan Kross’s Treading Air, or Ilmar Taska’s Pobeda 1946).

21 | Estonia

We boast outstanding local wise men who draw their inspiration from Estonia’s stunning landscape and language (read Jaan Kaplinski and Valdur Mikita). We cherish strong women who are not afraid to tear their own body from the inside out (read Maarja Kangro’s The Glass Child or Elo Viiding’s The Others). The uranium used in the Soviet nuclear industry was enriched on our soil (read Andrei Hvostov’s The Passion of Sillamäe), and we have dynamite enough for alchemical madness (read Paavo Matsin’s The Gogol Disco).

All in all, we are a virgin borderland in many ways – mystical and undiscovered, pristine and partly incomprehensible. Last but not least, one of our most-translated books is Border State

by Tõnu Õnnepalu.

Even so, the strongest part of Estonia’s literature is its poetry (read Doris Kareva, Jaan Kaplinski, Juhan Viiding, or Kristiina Ehin). The word luuletama, which means to create poetry, has a second connotation: to fib or fabricate untrue stories. You need not believe all that is written here. Instead, we invite you to read, translate, and publish the wide scope of the written word penned on this stony land.

The London Book Fair has chosen to showcase the diversity of our contemporary writing by introducing four outstanding Estonian authors to the British audience. Mihkel Mutt charms with his witty irony; Rein Raud stuns with his knowledge of cultures and languages; Andrei Ivanov is so lovably other, writing in Russian and thinking as a cosmopolitan; and Maarja Kangro proves that women are the stronger sex.

Although digitally the most advanced society in the world, Estonia is still wild by nature, with so much to share.

Andrei Ivanov

Credit: Jyri J. Dubov

Contact: Estonian Literature Centre estlit@estlit.ee

Andrei Ivanov, born in Estonia in 1971, knows, in his own words, “all the ups and downs of a Soviet education”, as he grew up in “a typical proletarian Russian family”. Although he sees himself as part of the Russian literary tradition, he identifies Estonia as his home country and his creative point of departure. After graduating from the Tallinn Pedagogical University (now Tallinn University), where he wrote his thesis on the language of Vladimir Nabokov, Ivanov briefly worked as a teacher, moved to Scandinavia and explored Denmark for a number of years, studied several languages, and wrote his first novel. His Russian-language novels Hanuman’s Journey to Lolland (2009), Bizarre (2013), and Confession of a Lunatic (2015) recount his experiences in Scandinavia.

Hanuman’s Journey to Lolland was shortlisted for the Russian Booker Prize (2012) and won the Cultural Endowment of Estonia’s Prize for Russian-Language Literature (2010). It was first published in Russian in Tallinn in 2009; was released in Moscow in 2010; was translated into Estonian (2012), German (2012) and French (2016); and was staged at Thalia Theater (Hamburg, 2014) by Ene-Liis Semper and Tiit Ojasoo of Theater NO99. The Harbin Moths (2013) is a sweeping historical oeuvre which won the prestigious literary prize NOS in Russia and was also shortlisted for the Russian Booker Prize. In the novel, Ivanov delves into Estonia’s interwar history; more specifically, into the lives of the local Russian intelligentsia and members of the Russian Fascist Party. It covers roughly 20 years, starting with the exodus of refugees from Russia in 1919 and throughout the 1920s, and ending with Soviet expansion in the Baltic states in 1940.

Andrei Ivanov lives in Tallinn and is married with one child.

Selected bibliography in English:

Awards:

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Hanuman’s Journey to Lolland (Vagabond Voices, 2018)

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22 | Estonia

Annual Estonian National Culture Award (2016) Estonian Cultural Endowment’s Russian Author Award (2016) Russian Literature Award NOS (2014) Estonian Cultural Endowment’s Russian Author Award (2013) Russian Booker Prize nominee (2013) Estonian Cultural Endowment’s Russian Author Award (2011)

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Tallinn University Literary Award (2011) Russian Booker Prize nominee (2010) Pусская Премия (2010) Estonian Cultural Endowment’s Russian Author Award (2009) Yuri Dolgoruky Foundation Prize (2009) Pусская Премия (2009)

Maarja Kangro

Credit: Dmitri Kotjuh

Contact: Estonian Literature Centre estlit@estlit.ee

Maarja Kangro is one of the most original and compelling contemporary Estonian writers. Her works, which have won numerous literary awards and have earned readers’ acclaim, provide a potent vehicle for a complex and distinctive take on life. They range from cynical social comedies to political reportage, intellectual exercises, and profound displays of compassion for physical suffering and bodily fragility. Her short stories often address the escalation of social misunderstandings and intercultural prejudices, raising questions about injustice, solidarity, and the intricate relations between these phenomena.

Kangro’s poetry is somewhat more metaphysical, revolving around ephemerality, desire, redemption, and the relation of high-minded intellectual ideas to mortal animalism.

She has published five collections of poetry, three books of short stories, and a ‘documentary novel’ titled Klaaslaps (The Glass Child, 2016). The latter is a frank and unsparing reportage of failed attempts at conception, as well as a personal meditation on death, trauma, and the ever-looming ‘abject’ dimension of human life.

The story is set in same timeframe as political turmoil in the Ukraine and intense public debates in Estonia. Her work in all these genres is permeated by saturnine humour, which in turn is relieved by a lucid style and true sympathy for everything living (and even unliving).

Maarja Kangro graduated from the University of Tartu in 1999, and has translated mainly poetry and philosophy into Estonian from the German (H. M. Enzensberger), Italian (G. Leopardi, V. Magrelli, G. Vattimo, G. Agamben) and English (P. Larkin).

Although Kangro is based in Tallinn, she spends a great deal of her time travelling extensively.

Awards: • • • • • •

23 | Estonia

Erster Rödermarksche Literaturpreis (2016) Friedebert Tuglas Short Story Award (2014) Friedebert Tuglas Short Story Award (2011) Estonian Cultural Endowment’s Award for Prose (2010) Tallinn University Literary Award (2009) Estonian Cultural Endowment’s Award for Poetry (2008)

• •

•

Tallinn University Literary Award (2008) Estonian Children’s Literature Centre’s Best Book of the Year (2006) First prize in the Società Dante Alighieri competition for translations of Italian poetry (2003)

Mihkel Mutt Mihkel Mutt is an Estonian writer and columnist. He was born in Tartu, Estonia in 1953 to a family of teachers. Mutt studied literature and journalism at the local University of Tartu. He began his career as a theatre and literary critic as well as a parodist, and his literary debut appeared in the late 1970s.

Since then, he has published close to 40 books in all genres except poetry and long epic.

Credit: Gabriela Liivamägi

Contact: Estonian Literature Centre estlit@estlit.ee

Mutt has translated into (his native) Estonian authors such as Tom Stoppard and Arnold Wesker, and is a versatile columnist on domestic and world politics. He has held a variety of jobs ranging from journalist to dramaturg to propaganda boss at the Estonian Foreign Ministry, etc. Before retiring in 2016, he was the editor-in-chief of the Estonian literary monthly, Looming. Mutt has recorded extensive memoirs about his stormy life, six parts of which have come out in print. He is convinced one should write about the past before Alzheimer’s or something even worse crushes memory to a pulp.

Mutt is considered one of the most provocative Estonian authors – he is a serious conservative filled with playfulness, who unites in his works a proper English sense of humour and core elements of Estonian culture. His earlier novels, plays, and short stories are characterized by a kind of snobbishness, powerful sarcasm, irony, and arrogance à la Huxley.

Now, as a mature author, Mutt has made reporting on history his primary focus – both Estonia’s period of transition from a Soviet republic to the free world, and the ongoing crisis in Europe. Throughout all this, he has not lost his biting irony, nor his hyperbolic wit.

Selected bibliography in English:

Awards:

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•

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The Inner Immigrant (Dalkey Archive Press, 2017) The Cavemen Chronicle (Dalkey Archive Press, 2015)

• • • • • •

24 | Estonia

Eduard Vilde Literary Award, Estonian Writer of the Year (2017) The annual award of the literary magazine Looming (2017) Estonian Cultural Endowment’s Essay Award (2015) Virumaa Literary Award (2013) Friedebert Tuglas Short Story Award (2008) Estonian Cultural Endowment’s Essay Award (1999) Aleksander Kurtna Translation Award (1990)

• •

Annual Award for Children and Youth Literature (1987) Friedebert Tuglas Short Story Award (1981)

Rein Raud Rein Raud, born in 1961, has written eight novels in addition to several collections of short stories, poetry, and numerous essays.

He has won many awards and has been compared to Umberto Eco, as he combines prolific literary activities with a successful academic career as a cultural theorist and philosopher. Three of his novels have been translated into English, and his works have been published in seven other languages.

Credit: Gabriela Liivamägi

Contact: Estonian Literature Centre estlit@estlit.ee

In his books, Raud traditionally combines a tense atmosphere with sudden plot twists and precise stylistic consciousness. Critics have remarked that he never returns to the same theme twice, even though recent historical events play a prominent part in several of his novels, including The Reconstruction (2012; 2017 in English) and The Death of the Perfect Sentence (2015; 2017 in English). The former describes the events leading up to a collective religious suicide committed by a group of young people, while the latter is a love/spy story that takes place during the final months of Soviet occupation in Estonia. Raud’s most recent book Bell and Hammer, his longest work to date, takes place in a remote manor on the Estonian coast. The book contains several different storylines, each told in its own voice and style. One of these is dedicated to the travels of a Baltic German aristocrat in the first half of the 19th century; another to the search for an orphaned child who vanishes without a trace in 1950; and two separate storylines observe a collection of disturbing events in 2016, when the same manor opens as a museum. Little by little, we learn how the human fates entangled in this location throughout different points in history are mysteriously tied to a game using cards and dice that has been played in the manor house for centuries.

Selected bibliography in English:

Awards:

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•

• •

The Death of the Perfect Sentence (Vagabond Voices, 2017) The Reconstruction (Dalkey Archive Press, 2017) The Brother (Open Letter Books, 2016)

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25 | Estonia

Estonian Cultural Endowment’s Award for Prose (2013) Friedebert Tuglas Short Story Award (2013) Eduard Vilde Literary Award (2009) Estonian Cultural Endowment’s Award for Prose (2004)

26 | Latvia

Introduction to Latvian Literature Latvia is a country of 1.994 million people, and of breath-taking nature. Picking mushrooms and berries in the woods, extracting birch sap, rafting in summer and dipping in ice-holes in winter are essential here. People honour pagan traditions, especially on the summer solstice. Activities include leaping over camp-fires, praising the sun, eating home-made cheese, and drinking homebrewed beer. Young people often wear pagan signs on their clothing, and as body art.

Latvians celebrate the Song and Dance Festival every five years, with up to 40,000 participants. UNESCO lists the festival as intangible cultural heritage.

Latvia’s internet is among the world’s fastest.

We have come up with the world’s smallest camera, modern jeans and 3D holographs. A Latvian was the first to reach the top of Venezuela’s Angel Falls, the highest waterfall in the world. The original Crocodile Dundee was Latvian. Latvia is the home of fantastic opera singers, a two-time Olympic BMX champion, and two NBA players.

Latvians may appear cold, but it’s just shyness – deep down we are dancing salsa and eating chilli!

Latvian literature only dates back one-and-a-half centuries. The forebears of our literature are Rūdolfs Blaumanis, Rainis, and his wife Aspazija.

Many streets, and even a crater on Mercury, bear Rainis’ name. Latvians’ great love for poetry has to do with our heritage of 300,000+ folk songs.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Latvian poets were virtually rock stars. Thousands attended their readings. They strengthened the Latvian identity and literary language, and built an idea of an independent nation. To this day, Latvia publishes numerous poetry books, of which unusually many are for children.

Latvian historic novels and documentary prose often describe events before the war and during the occupation. Latvia’s output of children’s and young adult literature has grown immensely.

27 | Latvia

Latvia publishes 2,177 new titles each year. It ranks second in Europe in the export market share of printed books (the figure is 74%).

Books illustrated by Latvian artists and printed here are often nominated and awarded in The Most Beautiful Books in the World competition.

The writers who represent Latvia at the 2018 London Book Fair were lucky enough to be born at a time at once full of hope and great difficulty.

They experienced the renewal of Latvia’s independence, and the accompanying political, economic and cultural change. It was they, who as young authors in the 90s and the early 2000s had to re-create Latvia’s literature and reflect upon the complex era.

Nora Ikstena is a prose writer and essayist.

Ikstena is one of the most visible and influential prose writers in Latvia, known for her elaborate style and detailed approach to language. Inga Ābele’s works show the talent of both a storyteller and a poet. She describes painful family dramas and tragic historical events. Kārlis Vērdiņš, a most courageous poet, makes short work of the unwritten rules of Latvian culture. He writes with great wit, and does not sidestep issues like eroticism and homosexuality. Luīze Pastore has written eight children’s books. She writes for elementary-school age children, and she knows how to make a riveting tale that’s simultaneously a story about culture and art.

Inga Ābele

Credit: Toms Harjo

Contact: Latvian Literature info@latvianliterature.lv

Inga Ābele is a prose writer, poet and playwright. Her prose evokes powerful emotional imagery and atmosphere. The heroes of Ābele’s narrative works find themselves in borderline situations they want to escape. The solutions often lead to sorrow. Ābele depicts places of ‘otherness’, like eccentric rural societies or socially declassed communities, authentically, in fine detail and without judgement. Leva, the protagonist of the novel High Tide, grows up in the countryside and becomes a young bride, not understanding what she wants from life. She falls in love and moves to the city with her lover. Initially, readers only know her lover is dying, while Ieva’s husband ends up in jail for murder. Actual circumstances are revealed only gradually. As the story retraces a tragic event, another storyline relates Ieva’s relationship with generations of women in her family.

Some of Ābele’s strongest work is in her collection of stories, Observations in the Time of Snow. The diptych, A Sudden Change in the Wind, relates the relationship between a couple who end up being forced to reconsider their values. On New Year’s Eve, Ieva and Pāvils’ car skids off the road in a snowstorm, and the quarrelsome lovers continue on foot. Facing increasing danger, they must adapt. Ābele’s distinctive style shows in novels like Wicker Monk and Thunder, based on studious research and, partially, on historical events. Its hero, Francis Sebalds, an important Latgalian cultural leader and Catholic priest, is wrongfully expelled from the church as a result of his stubbornness. Whereas Thunder tells the story of the racetrack right after the Second World War.

Selected bibliography in English:

Awards:

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28 | Latvia

Poetry in The Baltic Quintet (Ontario: Wolsak and Wynn Publishers Ltd., 2008) Poetry in World Literature Today (November-December, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma, 2008) ‘Ants and Bumblebees.’ in Best European Fiction 2010 (Champaign: Dalkey Archive Press, 2010) High Tide (New York: Open Letter, 2013) The Horses of Atgazene Station (Kindle Edition, 2013)

• • • •

The Annual Latvian Literature Award (2014) The Dzintars Sodums Award (2014) The Copyright Endlessness Prize (2017) The Annual Latvian Literature Award (2008) Baltic Assembly Prize (2009) The Annual Latvian Literature Award (2004)

Nora Ikstena Nora Ikstena (1969) is a prose writer and essayist. Ikstena is one of the most visible and influential prose writers in Latvia, known for elaborate style and detailed approach to language. After obtaining a degree in Philology from the University of Latvia in 1992, she went on to study English literature at Columbia University. In her prose, Nora Ikstena often reflects on life, love, death and faith.

Soviet Milk (2015, shortlisted for the Annual Literature Award for best prose), Besa (2012), Celebration of Life (1998) and The Virgin’s Lesson (2001) are some of her most widely appreciated novels.

Credit: Toms Harjo

Contact: Latvian Literature info@latvianliterature.lv

The novel Amour Fou has been staged for theatre, and published in Russian (2010); other works have been translated into Lithuanian, Estonian, Georgian, Swedish, Danish, etc. Ikstena is also a prolific author of biographical fiction, non-fiction, scripts, essays, and collections of short prose. Her collection Life Stories (2004) was published in English in 2013, and Hindi in 2015. Her story Elza Kuga’s Old Age Dementia was included in the ‘Best European Fiction 2011’ anthology.

Ikstena is an active participant in Latvia’s cultural and political life, and a co-founder of the International Writers and Translators’ House in Ventspils. In 2006, she received the Baltic Assembly Prize in literature.

Selected bibliography in English:

Awards:

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The Soviet Milk (Peirene Press, 2018) Life Stories (Guernica Editions, 2013)

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29 | Latvia

The Dzintars Sodums’ Award (2016) Copyright Eternity Prize (2011) Latvian Literature Award (2006) The Baltic Assembly Prize for Literature (2006) The Diena Annual Award in Culture (2006) Latvian Literature Award (2004) Latvian Literature Award (2001)

Luīze Pastore Luīze Pastore is a writer of children’s literature. She is the author of eight prose books for children.

Credit: Toms Harjo

Contact: Latvian Literature info@latvianliterature.lv

Pastore received her first award and recognition with her third book – Dog Town. The book tells the story about a boy who is being raised by only his father. Unable to adequately care for his son, the father leaves him to live with relatives in an old, green and beautiful, but neglected and run down part of the city. When property developers arrive and plan to build high-rises in place of the park, the neighbourhood kids and the talking dogs stand up to them and convince everybody that they must preserve the old neighbourhood. The book is beautifully enhanced with illustrations by artist Reinis Pētersons, including city maps and layouts of houses, which help create the environment and atmosphere.

Luīze Pastore’s newest works are part of a series in which she explores how literature can attractively combine the challenge of solving a mystery and introducing paintings by famous Latvian artists of different periods and genres, thus helping young students to connect with Latvian art. The main characters in the series are a boy named Teo, a girl named Poga and her dog Komats. The two of them meet for the first time at a New Year’s Eve party, where they discover that they can travel through different paintings to the time and place where the paintings were created. That is how Teo, Poga and Komats end up in a fancy New Year’s party before the First World War, at the opening of a poor, barefoot artist’s exhibition in the 1920s or in the 1980s in Riga, where the artist’s performance is stopped by the militia.

Selected bibliography in English:

Awards:

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Dog Town (Firefly Press, 2018) (Kindle edition, Amazon)

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30 | Latvia

Latvian Literature Award as the Best Children’s Book (2015) Jānis Baltvilks Award in Children’s Literature (2015) Latvian Literature Award as the Best Children’s Book (2013)

Kārlis Vērdiņš Kārlis Vērdiņš is a poet, translator and scholar. Vērdiņš has translated the poetry of W.B. Yeats, Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson into Latvian. His most important research is devoted to Latvian prose and poetry and gender and queer issues in Latvian culture.

Credit: Toms Harjo

Contact: Latvian Literature info@latvianliterature.lv

Vērdiņš is one of Latvia’s best-known poets; he has written poetry for both adults and children, and has participated in many musical and cultural projects. Vērdiņš’ poetry can be regarded as gentle, vivid and intimate; it often reveals uncomfortable truths in a piercing, playful, highly relatable way. Some of his themes include love, sex and coming to terms with oneself; all of which he writes about with a great deal of compassion, wit, and irony.

Vērdiņš’ poetry for both adults and children is often very funny. For example, in Dad, his collection of poems for children, he describes very openly and directly a somewhat irresponsible father’s driving habits and the things he does in his free time. Often Vērdiņš writes with humour and irony about the status of poets and other intellectuals in society and the difficulties his generation experienced growing up.

Humour and irony are themes in Vērdiņš’ poetry, both in content, and in form, where he wittily plays with different forms of discourse, starting with folk songs and ending with modern means of communication. This method is especially evident in his collection Me, in which Vērdiņš, inspired by his studies, literature and cultural history, dedicates many of his poems to famous cultural celebrities or literary heroes. Still one of his greatest talents is his ability to change – with the release of every new collection, Vērdiņš always comes up with something new and as yet unseen in Latvian literature.

Selected bibliography in English

Awards

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Six Latvian Poets (Todmorden: Arc Publications, 2011) Come to Me (Todmorden: Arc Publications, 2015)

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31 | Latvia

In 2014 the poem “Come to me” was listed by the experts at London’s Southbank Centre as one of 50 greatest modern love poems of our time.

Diena Culture Award (2001, 2008, 2015) The Annual Latvian Literature Award, Best Children’s Book (2007)

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Poetry Days Award (2008) Diena Culture Award (2008) Adults, poems Diena Culture Award (2015) The CCCA/LAA Award (2015) (Copyright and Communication Consulting Agency / Latvian Association of Authors) The International Jānis Baltvilks Baltic Sea Region Award (2016)

32 | Lithuania

Introduction to Lithuanian Literature Lithuanian literature comes from a country that has seen a lot and experienced a range of dramatic shifts. Its natural progress, in tune with Western cultural trends, has been interrupted many times by foreign oppression. Occupied for nearly 50 years, Lithuania started breathing freely around 1989, when the Soviet Union crumbled and the Berlin Wall came down, and when the Baltic countries joined hands in the Baltic Way. On 11 March 1990, by reclaiming its independence, the Republic of Lithuania regained its place on the map of the world.

Since then, freely composed Lithuanian literature could also return to its natural course: liberated from the former pressures of ideological censorship, it embraced a variety of creative trends. The year 1989 is thus the best starting point from which to begin the story of contemporary Lithuanian literature.

Lithuanians are a nation of poets. That is why Lithuanian literature has a strong lyrical tradition, which was carved out at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries by the formation of the modern nation and the standardisation of the Lithuanian language. Proof of the popularity of poetry is the abundance of titles published, and the sustained tradition of big international festivals.

The novel genre has gone through many trials, and the best way to appreciate it is to read the three most celebrated novels of their times.

A modernist novel that launched the genre’s popularity between the wars is In the Shadow of the Altars (1933) by Vincas Mykolaitis-Putinas, the story of the life of young priest, enriched with autobiographical details. One of the most idolised pieces is The White Shroud (1958) by Antanas Škėma, a novel which fuses postwar nihilism with émigré life in America. And the most notorious novel of early independence, a landmark in contemporary literature is Vilnius Poker (1989)

by Ričardas Gavelis. A story about Vilnius, it is also a detailed record of the death throes of the Soviet regime.

33 | Lithuania

The essay blossomed as a particular feature of Lithuanian literature at the beginning of the new millennium. Combining the classic essay and short fiction, it was the most popular prose genre at the time, and is still an important part of contemporary Lithuanian literature.

In the current decade, Lithuanian literature is increasingly relying on narrative by turning to prose forms and the story. The novel is witnessing a breakthrough, which is a sign that readers are overcoming their reticence in order to embrace engaging plots.

Literary life in Lithuania follows a course marked by major literary events: the Vilnius Book Fair in February (the biggest in the Baltic Countries), the Poetry Spring festival in May, poetry festival Druskininkai Poetic Fall in October, and literary festival Vilnius Pages in November. The main literary awards are also linked to these occasions.

The Vilnius Book Fair announces the list of the 12 Most Creative Books of the Year and the reader’s choice of the Book of the Year, whereas poets are awarded during spring and autumn poetry festivals.

Kristina Sabaliauskaitė, Undinė Radzevičiūtė, Tomas Venclova and Alvydas Šlepikas are the four Lithuanian writers attending the London Book Fair. Author of the Day Kristina Sabaliauskaitė is one of the most widely read Lithuanian writers, and author of acclaimed historical saga Silva Rerum; Undinė Radzevičiūtė is a winner of European Union Prize for Literature and is often described as the most cosmopolitan of Lithuanian writers; Tomas Venclova is a poet, prose writer and literary critic of world renown; and Alvydas Šlepikas is one of the most multitalented contemporary writers, moving between the worlds of literature, theatre and film.

Undinė Radzevičiūtė Undinė Radzevičiūtė is an internationally acclaimed writer, the author of five novels and a collection of short stories. She graduated from the Vilnius Arts Academy, where she studied art history, theory and criticism. She subsequently worked for ten years in international advertising agencies including Saatchi & Saatchi and Leo Burnett.

Credit: Monika Požerskytė

Contact: Lithuanian Culture Institute lithuanianculture.lt

Her first books were the short novels Strekaza and Frankburgas (Frankburg), characterised by black humour and a sense of the absurd, which were followed by a book of short stories Baden Badeno nebus (There will be no Baden-Baden) and her three novels, a ‘literary chinoiseri’ Žuvys ir drakonai (Fishes and Dragons), an intellectual thriller 180 and a historical novel Kraujas Mėlynas (Blue Blood). In 2015 the novel Fishes and Dragons was awarded the European Union Prize for Literature and is cited as one of the best books of the decade. It was published in Germany in 2017, and it is currently being translated into Polish, Bulgarian, Italian, Latvian, Estonian, Hungarian and Spanish.

The novel Fishes and Dragons is a story about the clash of civilisations – of Chinese civilisation and the Christian world of the West. The author refers to the novel as a ‘literary chinoiserie’ – the interpretation by a European of Chinese culture and art.

The novel interweaves two stories. One is the story of an Italian Jesuit artist, Father Castiglione, who comes to 18th century China, then ruled by the Qing Dynasty. The other tells the story of women of three generations living in a flat in the Chinese quarter of a large 21st century town – the mother, Mama Nora, a writer of erotic novels, her daughters Miki and Sasha, and grandmother Amigorena.

Selected English bibliography:

Awards:

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•

•

Fishes and Dragons, excerpt in The Vilnius Review (Vilnius, 2014) There will be no Baden Baden in The Vilnius Review (Vilnius, 2011 (2009)

• • •

34 | Lithuania

Blue Blood shortlisted for 12 Most Creative Books of the Year and for Book of the Year awards (2017) 180 shortlisted for 12 Most Creative Books of the Year (2015) European Union Prize for Literature for novel Fishes and Dragons (2015) Fishes and Dragons shortlisted for 12 Most Creative Books of the Year and for Book of the Year awards (2013)

•

•

There will be no Baden-Baden shortlisted for 12 Most Creative Books of the Year and for Book of the Year awards (2011) Strekaza shortlisted for 12 Most Creative Books of the Year (2003)

Kristina Sabaliauskaitė London-based Kristina Sabaliauskaitė is the most widely read Lithuanian author (sales of her books run to hundreds of thousands of copies) and is well received abroad. Her award-winning four-part historical novel Silva Rerum is also a bestseller beyond Lithuania’s borders, in Latvia and especially in Poland, where it has attracted the admiration of readers, exceptional reviews and was shortlisted for the final of the Angelus Central European Literary Prize in 2016.

Credit: Rokas Darulis

Contact: info@sabaliauskaite.com Lithuanian Culture Institute lithuanianculture.lt

In Lithuania the Silva Rerum saga (2008-2016), set in 1659-1795, is considered to be the most important literary event of the last decade. Almost 150 years of the country’s history is told through the lives of four generations of a minor noble family, the Narwoyszes, simultaneously depicting the cultural and philosophical panorama of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and its international connections – some of the action takes place in England, France, the Netherlands, and Germany. The themes that come up in her novels and short stories are identity, memory, history and the micro-histories of individuals shaped (or crushed) by historical events.

Kristina Sabaliauskaitė’s work has attracted comparison with the great literary classics, though critics have at the same time emphasised that her prose is a phenomenon in its own right and a completely unique literary voice. Sabaliauskaitė has a PhD in art history and Baroque studies. For almost a decade she worked as a foreign correspondent in London and together with that experience she also brings a profound academic knowledge and a refined, rich, innovative literary language. Critics have remarked on the paradox of prose that is very intellectual and multi-layered, but with her books being mesmerising page-turners.

Selected English bibliography:

Awards:

•

•

Vilnius. Wilno. Vilna. Three Short Stories (Vilnius: Baltos lankos, 2015)

•

• •

35 | Lithuania

Silva Rerum series voted by readers third in the list of 100 Best Lithuanian Books of the last 100 years (2018) Silva Rerum (Polish edition) shortlisted for the final of the Angelus Central European Literary Prize (2016) Liudas Dovydėnas Literary Prize for the novel Silva Rerum III (2015) Silva Rerum and Silva Rerum II listed

by Latvian readers among the Top

•

• • •

100 Most Favourite Books of All Times (2014) Saint Christopher award from Vilnius Municipality for reflections of Vilnius in literature (2011) Silva Rerum II Book of the Year in Lithuania (2011) Silva Rerum Book of the Year in Lithuania (2009) Jurga Ivanauskaitė literary award for the novel Silva Rerum (2008)

Alvydas Šlepikas Alvydas Šlepikas is one of the most multi-talented contemporary Lithuanian writers, moving between the worlds of literature, theatre, film and television. He is a poet, novelist, playwright, screenwriter, actor and director. His novel In the Shadow of Wolves became the most read novel of 2012 in Lithuania and has gone through six reprints. It is one of the most translated Lithuanian books of recent times and has now been published in Belarusian, Dutch, Estonian, German, Latvian, Polish and Ukrainian.

Credit: Monika Požerskytė

Contact: Lithuanian Culture Institute lithuanianculture.lt

The novel is inspired by the true stories of two women who were part of a group of displaced people during the Second World War known as ‘wolf children’. This was the name given to German children, frequently orphans, who at the end of the war came across the Nemunas River from East Prussia in order to survive and to work in Lithuania. Born in East Prussia (still then part of Germany), they were driven by starvation and the terrors wrought by the Soviet Army to seek refuge in a foreign land – Lithuania.

The novel’s main character, Renatė, who calls herself Marytė, symbolizes how life can overcome the challenges of fate.

The story of Marytė’s family exposes the tragic predicament of a large number of refugees in East Prussia and Lithuania in the first years after the war. The novel is compelling in its strong narrative and cinematic nature. It will be published in UK by Oneworld in 2019.

Both the poetry and prose of Alvydas Šlepikas are characterized by a lively visual style and a subtle intertwining of the past and present. The unexpected twists in his characters’ fates and actions are explained through the context of the past, while psychological portraits are shaped by their living environment, both through atmosphere and through historical facts.

Selected English bibliography:

Awards:

•

•

• •

‘The Bottle’ in The Vilnius Review (Vilnius, 2016) ‘The Cello’ in The Vilnius Review (Vilnius, 2016) In the Shadow of Wolves, excerpt from the novel in The Vilnius Review (Vilnius, 2012)

•

• •

•

36 | Lithuania

Lithuanian Writers Union Prize for novel In the Shadow of Wolves (2013) In the Shadow of Wolves Book of the Year in Lithuania and shortlisted for 12 Most Creative Books of the Year (2012) Jurgis Kunčinas Literary Prize (2012) The God of Rain shortlisted for 12 Most Creative Books of the Year (2005) Zigmas Gėlė Literary Prize for poetry (1998)

Tomas Venclova Tomas Venclova is a Lithuanian poet, prose writer and literary critic of world renown and the best known representative of Lithuanian culture. Together with his close friends, Nobel Prize winners Czesław Miłosz and Joseph Brodsky, he belongs to a generation of influential Eastern European literary figures who have given clear poetic form to the experience of totalitarian regimes. The poet took part in the dissident movement during the Soviet period. In 1977 he emigrated to the United States where he now lives and works.

Credit: Monika Požerskytė

Contact: Lithuanian Culture Institute lithuanianculture.lt

He is a recipient of numerous international poetry prizes. Venclova has translated many works of well-known poets into Lithuanian, among them T. S. Eliot, W. H. Auden, Charles Baudelaire, SaintJohn Perse, Boris Pasternak, Anna Akhmatova, Joseph Brodsky, Czesław Miłosz and Wisława Szymborska. He is the author of poetry collections and translations, essays and articles. His poetry collections have appeared in many languages including English, German, Italian, Swedish, Russian, Polish, Hungarian and Chinese.

One of his best known books of selected poems The Junction, speaks with a moral depth exceptional in contemporary poetry.

Venclova’s poetry addresses the desolate landscape of the aftermath of totalitarianism, as well as the ethical constants that allow for hope and perseverance. His new book, written together with Ellen Hinsey, Magnetic North: Conversations with Tomas Venclova, is inspired by works such as Conversations with Czesław Miłosz and Aleksander Wat’s classic My Century. It interweaves Lithuanian history, literature and dissidence together with Tomas Venclova’s own life. It also details Venclova’s artistic work, expanding our understanding of the significance of this writer, whose books are central to contemporary European culture.

Selected English bibliography: •

•

•

• •

37 | Lithuania

Tomas Venclova, Ellen Hinsey, Magnetic North: Conversations with Tomas Venclova, (Boydell & Brewer Ltd. UK, 2017) Vilnius: A Guide to its Names and People (Vilnius: R. Paknio leidykla, 2009) Vilnius: a personal history (New York: The Sheep Meadow Press, 2009) The Junction (Tarset: Bloodaxe Books, 2008) Raw Amber: an anthology of

•

•

•

contemporary Lithuanian poetry (Salzburg: Poetry Salzburg at the University of Salzburg, 2002) Forms of Hope (Riverdale-on-Hudson: The Sheep Meadow Press, 1999) Winter Dialogue (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1997) Contemporary East Poetry (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993)

Lithuanian Translation Fellowship The British Council and the Lithuanian Culture Institute have created a professional development programme for early-career translators of Lithuanian-to-English.

A small cohort of four translators – Agnė Bagočiūtė, John Evans, Julija Gulbinovič and Jeremy Hill – have been named the ‘Market Focus Lithuanian Fellows’.

38 | Lithuania

They have been selected to attend a range of literary and translation events throughout the year, culminating in the BCLT Translation Summer School in July 2018. The Fellows have been paired with an emerging UK-based translator for twelve months who will act as a mentor, providing support, advice and opportunities to introduce the Fellows to important connections in the translation sector.

Agnė Bagočiūtė Agnė Bagočiūtė (Saša Wilde) is a writer, music producer and translator. They have a background in the study of Tibetan language and culture, and are currently undertaking a research Masters in Psychosocial studies, specialising in the development of AI and shifting ideas of selfhood. They attended the International Literary Translation Summer School in Norwich in 2017. agnebago@gmail.com

John Evans John Evans works as an in-house translator for the EU, where he learned Lithuanian, but in his spare time he is developing his talents as a literary translator to counterbalance all those reports on agricultural audits with something more pleasurable to read.

He attended the International Literary Translation Summer School in Norwich in July 2017. johnalunevans@yahoo.co.uk

Julija Gulbinovič Julija Gulbinovič studied Lithuanian Philology and Foreign (Croatian) Language at Vilnius University, followed by a Masters degree in Human Geography at Queen Mary, University of London. Julija has translated Postmortem Trilogy by Mate Matisić and the Serbian classic Miloš Crnjanski’s Migrations from Croatian and Serbian respectively into Lithuanian. She attended the International Literary Translation Summer School in Norwich in 2017. julija.gulbinovic@googlemail.com Jeremy Hill Jeremy is a diplomat, lawyer, writer and translator, who has worked in international relations for over 30 years and is proficient in several languages. He attended the International Literary Translation Summer School in Norwich in July 2017. He has edited and translated a wide range of cultural, literary and historical texts from Lithuanian to English. peter.jeremyhill@gmail.com

39 | Lithuania

Pop Up Creators Artworks produced by young artists from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the UK will be showcased in an exhibition at the Royal Over-Seas League (ROSL) in Mayfair, London from 10 April – 20 May 2018. Co-curated by Pop Up Projects and House of Illustration. Pop Up Creators will feature some of the best work from collaborations between talented 16-24 year-old visual artists and 18 published children’s illustrators and comic artists from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the UK. The 150 students who have worked under the guidance of their artist-mentors have produced illustrated stories in a distinct ‘leporello’ (concertina) format, each receiving small print-runs published by four publisher partners (Päike ja Pilv in Estonia, kuš! In Latvia, Vilnius Academy of Arts Press in Lithuania and Nobrow Press in UK). The resulting library will be presented alongside the exhibition.

Developed in collaboration with House of Illustration and Inkygoodness, Pop Up Projects have also launched a new digital platform, Pathways, designed to seek out, curate and showcase diverse emerging talent direct to children’s publishers, drawn from this project and beyond. The exhibition and digital platform will be launched to coincide with The London Book Fair 2018 Baltic Countries Market Focus.

The project has been funded by Arts Council England (Ambition for Excellence Award), Lithuanian Council for Culture, Latvia’s International Writers and Translators House and the Ministry of Culture of Estonia and supported by a number of other partners in each country, including Lithuanian Culture Institute, IBBY Estonia, Estonian Children’s Literature Centre and many others.

In partnership with Pop Up Projects, the British Council commissioned three student illustrators to create an illustration around the theme of ‘folklore’: from Estonia, Kristiina Avel; Lote Vilma Vītiņa from Latvia; from Lithuania, Simona Jurčiukonytė. www.pop-up.org.uk, www.pathways-org.com

40 | The London Book Fair Baltic Countries Market Focus 2018

Panellists Bidisha Bidisha is a journalist, film-maker and broadcaster and a Trustee of the Booker Prize Foundation. Her most recent book is Asylum and Exile: Hidden Voices (2015) and her most recent film is An Impossible Poison (2017). This year she is the chair of judges for the Forward prizes for poetry.

Vahni Capildeo Vahni Capildeo’s latest book is Venus as a Bear (Carcanet, 2018; Poetry Book Society summer choice). Her interests include multilingualism, place, memory, performance, and collaboration.

Recent non-fiction appears in adda (Commonwealth Writers) and Granta. She is a Douglas Caster Cultural Fellow at the University of Leeds.

Pam Dix Pam Dix is the Chair of IBBY UK (International Board of Books for Young People). She has worked as a librarian and a university lecturer. She runs a small charity, the Akili Trust, which establishes community libraries in rural areas in Kenya and, is on the board of Book Aid International.

Sasha Dugdale Sasha Dugdale is a poet, translator and editor. She has published four collections of poetry, most recently Joy (2017, Carcanet) which won the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem in 2016. She translates poetry and plays from Russian and has worked with theatres across the UK and US on new productions of contemporary Russian plays.

41 | The London Book Fair Baltic Countries Market Focus 2018

Panellists Menna Elfyn Menna Elfyn is an award winning poet and playwright. Her work has been translated into 18 languages. In October 2017, she published a new bilingual collection of poetry Bondo (Bloodaxe Books) and a literary memoir in Welsh, Cennad (Messager) published by Barddas in March 2018.

Steven J Fowler Steven J Fowler is a writer, poet and artist. He has published multiple collections of poetry and artworks, and been commissioned by Tate Modern, BBC Radio 3, Tate Britain and Wellcome Collection. He is the director of Writers’ Centre Kingston and European Poetry Festival. www.stevenjfowler.com

Georgina Godwin Georgina Godwin is a broadcast journalist. A chair of literary events worldwide, she’s the voice of the British Council Arts Podcast, Books Editor for Monocle 24 and presenter of the in-depth author interview show ‘Meet the Writers’. As a founder member of Zimbabwe’s first independent radio station, she was deemed “an enemy of the state” and banned from the country of her birth. She serves on the board of Developing Artists and is a fellow of the Gabriel Garcia Marquez Foundation.

Daniel Hahn Daniel Hahn is a writer, editor and translator with 50-something books to his name. His work has won him the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, the Blue Peter Book Award and the International Dublin Literary Award, among others, and been shortlisted for the LA Times Book Awards and the Man Booker International Prize. He is a past chair of the Society of Authors, and on the board of a number of organisations that work with literature, translation and free expression.

42 | The London Book Fair Baltic Countries Market Focus 2018

Ellen Hinsey Ellen Hinsey works at the intersection of literature and democracy. She is the author of nine books of poetry, essay, dialogue and literary translation, most recently The Illegal Age (Arc Publications, 2018), Mastering the Past: Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe and the Rise of Illiberalism and Magnetic North: Conversations with Tomas Venclova. Her work has appeared in publications such as The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Irish Times, Poetry Review and others.

Carolyn Jess-Cooke Carolyn Jess-Cooke is a poet, novelist and editor published in 23 languages. Her most recent works are Writing Motherhood (as editor) (Seren, 2017) and I KNOW MY NAME (as CJ Cooke) (Harper Collins, 2017). She is Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow.

Nicolette Jones Nicolette Jones has been the Children’s Books Reviewer of The Sunday Times for more than two decades, and in 2012 was shortlisted for the Eleanor Farjeon Award for distinguished service to the world of children’s books. She is experienced in radio and television, and a professional chair of adults’ and children’s events at many venues across the UK including Cheltenham, Oxford and Charleston literary festivals.

Romas Kinka Romas Kinka works as a forensic linguist and a literary translator and finds that the disciplines complement one another. One of the nicest compliments he has received comes from Lithuania’s best-selling author of fiction Kristina Sabaliauskaitė: “It was a real pleasure to read Romas Kinka’s translation… I felt as if I’d written it myself in English,” describing his translation of her Vilnius Wilno Vilna. Three Short Stories (2015).

43 | The London Book Fair Baltic Countries Market Focus 2018

Panellists Aušra Kiudulaitė Aušra Kiudulaitė has a masters degree from the Vilnius Academy of Arts (VAA) and is now a freelance illustrator and designer, leading creative workshops for children. Her illustrations for the book The Fox on the Swing were selected for the prestigious Bologna Children’s Book Fair Illustrators Exhibition and the book has recently been published by Thames & Hudson.

She lives and works in Vilnius.

Nick Makoha His debut collection Kingdom of Gravity was shortlisted for the 2017 Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection and nominated by The Guardian as one of the best books of 2017. He won the 2015 Brunel International Poetry prize and the 2016 Toi Derricotte & Cornelius Eady Chapbook Prize for his pamphlet Resurrection. A Goldsmiths, Cave Canem & Complete Works Alumni, his poems appeared in The New York Times, Poetry Review, Rialto, Triquarterly Review, Boston Review, Callaloo, and Wasafiri. www.nickmakoha.com Tim Marshall Tim Marshall was Diplomatic Editor and foreign correspondent for Sky News. After 30 years’ experience in news reporting and presenting, he left full time news journalism to concentrate on writing and analysis. Tim has reported in the field during the Balkan wars and in recent years he covered the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and Syria. He has written for national newspapers including The Times, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, and The Sunday Times.

Christopher Moseley Christopher Moseley is currently Teaching Fellow in Estonian Language at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London. He also teaches Latvian, and he is a literary translator from both languages. For many years he was a news journalist covering the Baltic countries at the BBC Monitoring Service, Caversham Park, and nowadays he divides his time between teaching, translating and editing a language atlas for UNESCO.

44 | The London Book Fair Baltic Countries Market Focus 2018

Ulla Saar Ulla Saar is an illustrator, an artist, and an interior designer.

Since her first illustrated book Lift, her works have garnered international attention. Saar practices a contemporary, design-like approach: her spirited and playful art is often more a part of the book’s overall design than free-standing pictures. Everyone’s the Wisest is her first illustrated book published in English.

Sathnam Sanghera Sathnam Sanghera is a prizewinning journalist with The Times and has been shortlisted for the Costa Book Awards twice, for his memoir The Boy with the Topknot and his novel Marriage Material.

The former was recently adapted for TV by BBC Drama. www.sathnam.com

Rebecca Stott Rebecca is an author and academic. She teaches English Literature and Creative Writing in the University of East Anglia and writes fiction and non-fiction. Her latest book, In the Days of Rain, won the Costa Biography Award 2017. She lives in Norfolk.

Penny Thomas Penny Thomas is the publisher with award-winning independent children’s and YA publisher Firefly Press, which she co-founded with her colleague Janet Thomas five years ago. Penny has a BA (Hons.) in English Literature and Language from Keble College, Oxford, and worked as a journalist for 14 years before moving into publishing by joining Seren Books in Wales in 2006.

45 | The London Book Fair Baltic Countries Market Focus 2018

Panellists Roger Thorp Roger Thorp is Editorial Director for Art and Children’s Publishing at Thames & Hudson. He was previously Publishing Director at Tate.

Sergej Timofejev Sergej Timofejev is an author of seven books of poetry.

His poems have been translated into English, Italian, Swedish, German and others languages and published in different international anthologies, including A Fine Line: New Poetry from Eastern & Central Europe by Arc Publications. He is also one of the organizers of multimedia poetry project, Orbita.

46 | The London Book Fair Baltic Countries Market Focus 2018

47 | The London Book Fair Baltic Countries Market Focus 2018

Estonian Publishers Äripäev Book Publishing

Ersen Publishing House

Business and management literature, books on history

Publisher of commercial and upmarket fiction and non-fiction

and science. Vana-Lõuna 39/1, 10134 Tallinn, Estonia,

(health, self-help, personal development, business, parenting,

+372 667 0400, klubi@aripaev.ee, raamatud, Est. 2001,

education, spirituality). Tartu mnt 84a–111, 10112 Tallinn,

Manager: Liina Leiten,+372 667 0208, liina.leiten@aripaev.ee

Estonia, Phone: +372 602 3084, info@ersen.ee rights@ersen.ee, www.ersen.ee, Est. 1994

Argo Publishers Historical non-fiction and fiction (translated and original);

ELM Scholarly Press

academic and professional titles; children’s and

Reference books, research materials, periodicals

young adult literature; textbooks for basic, secondary

and e-publications. Vanemuise 42, 51003 Tartu, Estonia,

and occupational schools. Rävala pst 8–C114, 10143

+372 727 7740, kirjastus@folklore.ee, Est. 2007,

Tallinn, Estonia. +372 688 8680, argokirjastus@argokirjastus.ee,

Chairman of the Board: Mare Kõiva, +372 562 18119

www.argokirjastus.ee, Est. 1999

Estonian Academy Publishers Atlex

Scientific literature. Kohtu 6, 10130 Tallinn, Estonia, +372 645

Fiction, textbooks, workbooks, educational and

4504, www.eap.ee, Est. 1951, Director: Ülo Niine, niine@eap.ee

methodology handbooks and scientific literature.

Kivi 23, 51009 Tartu, Estonia, +372 734 9099, atlex@atlex.ee, www.atlex.ee, Est. 1992

Estonian Bible Society Religious literature. Kaarli pst 9, 10119 Tallinn, Estonia, +372 631 1671, eps@eps.ee www.piibliselts.ee, www.piibel.net,

Avita Publishers BIT Ltd

www.piiblipood.ee, Est. 1813 (Re-est. 1991), General Secretary:

Teaching materials for all stages of school education;

Jaan Bärenson, +372 509 4034, jaan@eps.ee

E-Lesson – a special computer programmes for teachers; children’s books by Estonian authors.

Pikk 68, 10133 Tallinn, Estonia, +372 627 5401,

EKSA

info@avita.ee, www.avita.ee, Est. 1988

Dictionaries, reference books, fiction and poetry.

Tallinn, Estonia, +372 644 9271, eksa@eki.ee, www.eksa.ee, Est. 1993, Toomas Väljataga, +372 503 5489

Eesti Joonisfilm Studio Children’s books and animated films.

Roo 9, 10611 Tallinn, Estonia, +372 677 4228,

Festart

www.joonisfilm.ee, Est. 1997, CEO / Producer:

Dictionaries, reference books.

Kalev Tamm, kalev@joonisfilm.ee

Laki 14a, 10621 Tallinn, Estonia, +372 698 8900, festart@ festart.ee, www.festart.ee, Est. 1995, Director: Sergei Gluhhov

Eesti Raamat Fiction for adults, young adults and children, non-fiction,

Grenader Grupp

books on history, biographies and memoirs. Laki 26, 12915

Guide books, calendars and history books.

Tallinn, Estonia, +372 658 7886, info@eestiraamat.ee,

Kopli 29, 10412 Tallinn, Estonia, +372 681 7200,

www.eestiraamat.ee, Est. 1964, Director: Tiit Treimuth,

+372 5347 7777, info@grenader.ee, www.phototour.ee,

Editor-in-Chief: Rein Põder

www.kalenderland.ee, Est. 2003, Director: Aimur Kruuse

48 | The London Book Fair Baltic Countries Market Focus 2018

Hea Lugu

National Library of Estonia

General non-fiction and fiction, biographies, memoirs;

Catalogues, bibliographies, reference books, philosophy,

reference books on cooking, gardening, health care, home

history, politics, librarianship. Tõnismägi 2, 15189 Tallinn,

design, parenting, economy, history, politics, travel, how-to;

Estonia, +372 630 7611, nlib@nlib.ee, www.nlib.ee, Est. 1918

young adult and children’s books; DVDs. Imprints: Eesti

Publishing Activities Coordinator: Piret Pärgma

Ekspressi Raamat, Maalehe Raamat, Hea Lugu. Parda 6,

+372 630 7271, Piret.Pargma@nlib.ee

10151 Tallinn, Estonia, +372 680 4404, info@healugu.ee, www.healugu.ee, Est. 2011, Board: Tiina Kaalep

Petrone Print Travel books, travel memoirs, biographies, fiction for

Helios

adults and young adults, children’s books; self-help,

Fiction for adults, young adults and children, books on history,

non-fiction for young adults, books on environmental topics.

biographies, self-help. Estonian original children’s books,

Küütri 16, 51007, Tartu, +372 740 4584,

activity books, travel books. Suur-Sõjamäe 10, 10415 Tallinn,

info@petroneprint.ee, www.petroneprint.ee, Est. 2007

Estonia, +372 601 2382; +372 528 0344, sandra@helios.ee, www.helios.ee, Est. 2009

Pilgrim Publishing House Fiction, non-fiction, photo albums, handbooks, gift books.

Ilmamaa

Main categories: psychology, spirituality, philosophy, health,

Fiction, philosophy, cultural history, memoirs, poetry.

biography, economy, leadership, society, children.

Vanemuise 19, 51014 Tartu, Estonia, + 372 742 7290,

Tõnismägi 2, 10122 Tallinn, Estonia, +372 600 6604;

ilmamaa@ilmamaa.ee, www.ilmamaa.ee, Est. 1993,

+372 50 19 787; +372 52 87 380, info@pilgrimbooks.ee

Director: Mart Jagomägi

www.pilgrimbooks.ee, Est. 2003

Keropää

Post Factum

Fiction books for children. Uus 61-61, 50606 Tartu, Estonia

Fiction and non-fiction for adults, young adult and children;

+ 372 505 8953, +372 5836 6990. Est. 2011, Managing

self-help, reference books. Post Factum is a part of media

Director: Mika Keränen, majkeranen@gmail.com

group Eesti Meedia which is the largest media group in the Baltic countries (producing content for print and internet media, TV and radio production, classified portals and

Koolibri Publishing House

offering a printing service).

Textbooks, workbooks, digital teaching materials, fiction and

Maakri 23a, 10145, Tallinn, Estonia,

non-fiction for children and adults. Hiiu 38, 11620 Tallinn,

+372 666 2350, kirjastus@eestimeedia.ee, postfactum.ee

Estonia, +372 651 5300, koolibri, koolibri.ee, www.koolibri.ee,

Est. 2015, Editor-in-Chief: Signe Siim

Est. 1991, Editor-in-Chief: Kadri Rahusaar

Publishing House Canopus Menu Publishing House

Fiction, non-fiction, poetry, children’s books, memoirs.

Biographies, non-fiction, gift books, reference books on

Kihnu 2–52, 13913 Tallinn, Estonia, +372 554 3680

cooking, lifestyle, gardening, children’s books, audio-books

www.canopus.ee, Est. 2001, Managing Director: Tõnu Lember

and e-books. Tartu mnt 74, 10144 Tallinn, Estonia,

tonu.lember@canopus.ee

+372 670 0555, info@menuk.ee, www.menuk.ee, Est. 2008 Rights and Contracts Manager: Janari Lage, janari@menuk.ee

49 | Estonia

Päike ja Pilv

TEA Publishers

Children’s books, fiction for young adults. Aiamaa 17, 76506

Encyclopedias, dictionaries and phrase-books, language

Saue, +372 513 1005, paikejapilv@paikejapilv.ee,

textbooks, grammar books, reference books on cooking,

paikejapilv.ee, Est. 2005, Managing Director: Katrin Reinmaa

lifestyle, gardening, history, health, self-help, nature, children’s books, e-books. Liivalaia 28, 10118 Tallinn, Estonia, +372 616 1022, info@tea.eu, www.tea.ee, Est. 1988, CEO: Silva Tomingas

Regio Ltd Atlases, folded maps, wall maps, maps for children, maps on demand, cartography and design, other map products.

Tänapäev Publishers

Geoinformatics and geospatial databases: navigation data

Fiction, history, current issues, popular science, reference,

and topographic maps for the Baltics and other regions,

biographies, health, self-help, young adult and children’s

GPS maps for Garmin devices.

books, humour. Pärnu mnt 20, 10141 Tallinn, Estonia,

Riia 35, 50410 Tartu, Estonia, Mere pst 4, 10111 Tallinn, Estonia,

+372 669 1890, tnp@tnp.ee, www.tnp.ee, Est. 1999,

+372 731 0122, maps@regio.ee,

Editor-in-Chief: Tauno Vahter

www.regio.ee, Est. 1990, CEO: Leida Lepik, Wholesale Manager: Mirjam Parmasto

University of Tartu Press Academic titles, textbooks, world classics.

SE&JS Publishers

W. Struve 1, 50091, Tartu, Estonia, +372 737 5945,

Biographies, memoirs, books on Estonian history

tyk@ut.ee, www.tyk.ee, Est. 1632, Managing Director:

and social themes. Endla 3, 10122 Tallinn, Estonia,

Ülle Ergma, Editor-in-Chief: Ivo Volt

+372 660 1894, sejs@sejs.ee, www.sejs.ee, Est. 1992

Valgus Publishers Studium

Dictionaries, reference books, philosophy, history, psychology,

Textbooks, workbooks, educational handbooks.

textbooks, handbooks, literature for children and young adults.

Riia 15B, 51010 Tartu, Estonia, +372 742 0440;

Endla 3, 10122 Tallinn, Estonia, +372 617 7015,

+372 510 2120, kirjastus@studium.ee, www.studium.ee,

info@kirjastusvalgus.ee, www.kirjastusvalgus.ee, Est. 1965

Est. 1988, Editor-in-Chief: Ülle Kurm

Varrak Publishers Tallinn University Press

Fiction, history, philosophy, poetry, biographies & memoirs,

Academic titles, textbooks, scientific literature, translations

popular science, young adult and children’s books, reference

of key academic texts and valuable old texts, periodicals.

books on health care, cooking, gardening, home design,

Narva mnt 25, 10120 Tallinn, Estonia, +372 640 9124,

nature, travel, parenting etc. Pärnu mnt 67a, 10134 Tallinn,

tlupress@tlu.ee, www.tlupress.com, Est. 2010,

Estonia, Phone: +372 616 1035, varrak@varrak.ee, www.varrak.

Editor-in-Chief: Rebekka Lotman

ee, Est. 1991, Director: Priit Maide, Editor-in-Chief: Krista Kaer

Tallinn University of Technology Press Academic titles, textbooks. Akadeemia tee 1 / Ehitajate tee 7, 12618 Tallinn, Estonia, +372 620 2675, Est. 1960, Director: Jüri Veerits, juri.veerits@ttu.ee

50 | Estonia

Latvian Publishers Jelgavas Tipogrāfija SIA

Sia Pētergailis

Jelgavas Tipografija is a technologically advanced printing

Petergailis work with the most prominent Latvian writers and

company, producing standard hardcover and softcover,

illustrators, publishing fiction, popular science, reference

paperback with flaps and books with rounded corners, as

books on natural sciences, cultural history and other humanity

well as covers made from two materials, as well as laminated,

sciences, travel books, books for children, text books and

UV-lacquered, and foil-stamped covers, etc. FSC certified.

educational books. Categories: fiction, scientific literature,

Main markets: Scandinavia, Germany, France, Baltics states,

children’s literature, educational books, textbooks.

France, Iceland, UK. 1A Langervaldes iela, Jelgava, LV-3002,

54 –17 Stabu iela, Rīga, LV–1011, Latvia (office address),

Latvia girts@jt.lv, www.jt.lv

info@petergailis.lv, petergailis.lv

Sia Veiters Korporācija

SIA “Neputns”

Veiters is a full-service printing house providing pre-press,

Neputns specialises in high-quality books on art – catalogues,

press, and post-press services. The company is especially

major albums, volumes of research papers, collections of

known for its expertise in producing products for children and

poetry, educational series, as well as “Art Detectives” for

young audiences — books, colouring & activity books, sticker

children. A large number of the publications are in English.

sets, memory games etc. Main markets: Scandinavia, Germany,

Categories: art, children’s literature, cultural heritage, essays,

Netherlands, Belgium, France, Baltic states, the UK, Iceland

memoirs, photography, poetry, scientific research.

437 Brīvības iela, Rīga, LV - 1024,

49/51 – 8 Tērbatas street, Rīga, LV–1011,

Latvia veiters@veiters.lv, veiters.com

Latvia dace@neputns.lv, www.neputns.lv

SIA “Madris”

SIA Kur Rodas

Madris SIA publishing house was established in 1996.

Kur Rodas publishes the “The Origin” series about the

It prints different genres of literature, but its priority is

production of everyday foods using modern technologies.

non-fiction, children’s books, cultural heritage and tourism

The books are published in three languages: Latvian,

and travel guides. Categories: children’s literature, travel

English, and Russian.

guides, cultural heritage, non-fiction, general.

kristine.jacino@gmail.com

Tallinas iela 36a, Rīga LV–1001, Latvia, madris@madris.lv, www.madris.lv

Apgāds Zvaigzne ABC, SIA Zvaigzne ABC Publishers Ltd is the biggest publishing

SIA “Not yet”

house in Latvia with a wide publishing profile. Categories:

Ucipuci publishing house is a self-publishing company

textbooks, children’s literature, fiction and literary

specialising in children’s literature, both educational and

non-fiction, encyclopaedias, educational literature,

interactive. “Ucipuci is lost from home” and “Ucipuci thinks

methodical literature for teachers, dictionaries,

outside the box” by the author Zane Zusta are the latest titles.

reference books, gift books, travel guides, etc.

Categories: children’s literature, illustrated books, fiction,

6 K. Valdemāra iela, Rīga, LV–1010, Latvia,

educational, interactive books. zane.zusta@gmail.com,

apgads@zvaigzne.lv , foreign.rights@zvaigzne.lv,

ucipuci@ucipuci.lv, www.ucipuci.lv

www.zvaigzne.lv

51 | Latvia

Liels un Mazs

Droši un koši

Liels un Mazs publishes children’s books by some of the world’s

The publishing house “Droši un Koši” publishes

top authors and also commissions new works by the best

children books that bring to life stories about the

Latvian writers, illustrators, and translators, bringing to life

world we live in. Categories: children’s books,

projects which are innovative both in content and artistic style.

educational books, visual arts, culture and arts,

Categories: children’s literature, picture books.

manners, technology, programming for children.

49/51 – 12 Tērbatas iela, Rīga LV–1011, Latvia,

“Varavīksnes”, Jaunsvirlaukas pagasts, Jelgavas novads,

pasts@lielsmazs.lv, lielsmazs.lv

LV – 3001, Latvia. drosikosi@gmail.com, drosikosi.com

Latvijas Mediji

Dienas grāmata

Latvijas Mediji publishing house specialises in popular

Dienas Grāmata was founded in 2005 and is based in Riga,

literature (original works, translations) with a wide

Latvia. It publishes the latest in award-winning fiction and

target audience. Categories: fiction, calendars,

non-fiction written by Latvia’s best authors. Dienas Grāmata

children’s literature, how-to and self-help books.

also publishes translated literature and children’s literature.

21 Dzirnavu iela, Rīga, LV-1010, Latvia,

Categories: fiction, non-fiction, children’s literature.

izdevnieciba@latvijasmediji.lv, veikals.la.lv,

15a Mūkusalas iela, Rīga, LV–1004, Latvia.

facebook.com/lmizdevnieciba/

dienasgramata@dgramata.lv. dgramata.lv

52 | Latvia

Lithuanian Publishers Alma littera

Artseria

Founded in 1990, Alma littera is one of Lithuania’s main

Artseria was founded in 2003 as the publishing arm of the

publishing houses, specialising in fiction, non-fiction, reference

Artists’ Union. It publishes a magazine on art, art books,

books, textbooks, and other publications for all age groups.

the series “Contemporary Lithuanian Artists”, monographs,

Publishing works by both local and foreign authors, books

catalogues, and publications of the Lithuanian Artists’ Union.

for children and youth, science fiction, non-fiction, research

Its books consistently win awards and diplomas in Lithuania’s

publications, reference books, dictionaries, encyclopaedias,

annual competition for the best designed book of the year.

textbooks for schools, and other educational material.

www.artseria.lt, Saulė Mažeikaitė

www.almalittera.lt, Danguolė Viliūnienė

Baltos lankos Alma Littera Group Alma Littera Group is the biggest publishing group in the

Baltos lankos was established in 1992, with the intention of

Baltic States connecting two large publishing houses Alma

publishing quality literature. The range of its publications is

Littera and Šviesa, bookshop network Pegasas and The Book

very wide: new books by Lithuanian authors, translations of

Club. Alma Littera Group mission: to inspire and satisfy the

quality foreign literature, popular works of fiction, crime fiction,

need to read and to provide their readers the joy of knowledge.

monographs, children’s books and academic writing.

www.algrupe.lt, Irmantas Švažas

www.baltoslankos.lt, Saulina Kochanskaitė

Apostrofa

Baltų Lankų Vadovėliai

Founded in 2003, Apostrofa is a small independent publishing house, which publishes fiction and non-fiction by

Baltų lankų vadovėliai was established as a separate

Lithuanian and foreign authors (translations from English,

department of the publishing house Baltos lankos.

German, Icelandic, Polish, Estonian, Swedish, French, Czech).

It mainly presents educational literature, textbooks

Published titles include books of the highest quality,

and other learning material.

awarded prestigious prizes in Lithuania for their content

www.baltulankuvadoveliai.lt, Saulius Žukas

and design. www.apostrofa.lt, Giedrė Kadžiulytė

Terra Publica Terra Publica’s motto is “Books for and about Lithuania!”

Aukso žuvys

The company publishes books written and illustrated by

Aukso žuvys is a small company publishing fiction and

Lithuanian authors that are interesting both to Lithuanians

non-fiction for adults, and illustrated books for children

and to tourists from abroad. Thanks to the great attention

and teenagers. Its main area of interest is history

paid to tourism in Lithuania, it has already been named the

which is presented in a lively and original way.

most nationally oriented publishing house.

www.auksozuvys.lt, Sigita Pukienė

www.terrapublica.lt, Danguolė Kandrotienė

53 | Lithuania

Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore

Tikra Knyga

The Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore is a

high-quality books for boys and girls from four to 14 years old.

state-run research institute, implementing long-term

It is willing to offer the foreign rights to approximately 35 titles

investigations into Lithuanian literature, folklore and

by excellent authors and artistic illustrators.

the literary heritage of old Lithuania. The Institute

www.tikraknyga.lt, Jaunius Lingys

This very young publisher (operating since 2014) produces

publishes books, periodicals and research publications.

It also publishes e-books and creates databases.

Its publishing specialisations are the following:

Tyto Alba

encyclopaedias, academic papers, serial publications,

Tyto alba is one of the leading Lithuanian publishers of classic

monographs, written sources on the Grand Duchy

and contemporary fiction and non-fiction. Its list also includes

of Lithuania, folklore and modern literature, research

self-help books popularising contemporary psychology and

publications, and research. These publications are

healthy lifestyles. It has recently started publishing both

aimed at the academic world and the general public.

original and translated literature for children.

www.llti.lt, Gytis Vaškelis

www.tytoalba.lt, Lolita Varanavičienė, Jurgita Liudavičienė

Kitos Knygos

Vaga

It is an independent Lithuanian publisher, publishing

Founded in 1945, Vaga is the oldest publishing house in

quality, award-winning books of contemporary and

Lithuania, continuing the best traditions of recent years.

classic literature, poetry, culture, fiction and non-fiction,

Vaga publishes quality classic literature, it launches prize-

philosophy and psychology. Its mission is the publishing

winning authors of modern fiction, and it continues to expand

of eye-opening, controversial books that provoke

its series of psychological and other non-fiction books.

intellectual and public discussion.

www.vaga.lt, Vytas V. Petrošius

www.kitosknygos.lt, Gediminas Baranauskas

Verslas ar Menas Lithuanian Writers’ Union Publishers

Verslas ar Menas publishes books adapted for the partially-

The Lithuanian Writers’ Union Publishers focus on new

sighted. The publishing house uses innovative solutions of

books by Lithuanian authors, including prose, poetry,

design and technology while printing books for the sighted

essays and critical studies, books from the literary

and in Braille with illustrations perceived not only by sight

canon and books by exiled authors, as well as

but also by touch. These books develop the social values

translations of quality foreign literature. The output

of sighted children and their attitude towards people with

of publishing house is characterised by strict

disabilities as well as enable blind and visually impaired

selection, and high-quality printing and design.

children to feel like they are equal to sighted readers.

www.rsleidykla.lt, Saulius Repečka

www.vam.lt, Eglė Jokužytė

54 | Lithuania

BALTO trader

Eugrimas

BALTO trader belongs to the BALTO group. This company is

Eugrimas is a publishing company from Lithuania with a

responsible for internet bookselling; wholesale book distribution;

focus on non-fiction: business, creative thinking, psychology,

production of personal photo books and book publishing.

self-help, etc. Over 20 years in the publishing business, it has

www.baltotrader.com, Dovydas Pauliukonis

successfully acquired copyright from the world’s largest publishers, and participated in numerous international projects. www.eugrimas.lt, Saulius Petrulis

BALTO print BALTO print is one of the largest book manufacturers (book printing companies) in Baltic states, printing over 500,000

Flintas

high-quality books every month for prominent Lithuanian and

Founded in 1996, Flintas Publishing is a mass market children’s

foreign publishers. BALTO print operates two printing houses in

book publisher, specialising in the creation and distribution

Lithuania and has sales departments not only there, but also in

of educational, sticker, colouring and activity books,

London (UK) and Moscow (Russia). Their printing professionals

and magazines for toddlers and pre-schoolers.

are successfully working in markets of Sweden, Norway,

www.flintaspublishing.com, Sikstas Ridzevičius

Denmark, Finland, United Kingdom, Germany, Netherlands, Russia and many other countries. www.baltoprint.com, Artūras Karosas

Homo liber Its main activity is publishing fiction by Lithuanian and foreign authors, academic books on the humanities, and illustrated

Akademinė leidyba

childrens books. Much attention is paid to the historical theme

Akademinė leidyba (Academic Publishing) is the publishing

in the literary heritage. Original and novel publishing projects

house of Vilnius University, specialising in academic books,

are among its main priorities.

traditional and digital publishing, and market research in

www.homoliber.lt, Vilius Gužauskis

publishing. It publishes monographs, textbooks, scholarly journals, books popularising science, and other publications. www.aleidyba.lt, Arūnas Gudinavičius

Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania

Debesų ganyklos

This is the only organisation in the country permanently

Debesų ganyklos is a publishing house with a fresh and

engaged in publishing fiction and scholarly and journalistic

innovative approach to children’s literature. It publishes books

work on the subject of the resistance and the genocide carried

for children that are easy to read, understand and enjoy. This

out by occupying regimes: they include the journal Genocide

is why it often involves its readers in the most creative parts of

and Resistance, a list of the names of victims of the genocide,

the publishing process.

monographs, studies, collections of documents, and memoirs.

www.debesuganyklos.lt, Danguolė Kandrotienė

www.genocid.lt, Birutė Anaitienė

55 | Lithuania

Lapas

Šviesa

Lapas is a small independent publishing house based in

Šviesa is the most experienced national publisher of

Lithuania. It focuses mainly on architecture and artists’ books.

educational literature, and a provider of interactive learning

It is interested in publishing books as design objects, as well

content. It offers quality educational material, based on

as making the publication of a book an important public event.

innovative methodology, as well providing interactive

Once a year, Lapas prepares and publishes a special lifestyle

learning solutions for teachers and students. The publishing

books with distinctive content.

house has won various national and international awards

www.leidyklalapas.lt, Ūla Ambrasaitė

for its innovative solutions in the field of education. www.sviesa.lt, Jurgita Nacevičienė

Modern Art Centre The Modern Art Centre has published 24 books aimed at

Vilnius Academy of Arts Press

educating children, young people and adults. In the future,

Established in 1993, the Vilnius Academy of Art Press

the Modern Art Centre plans to publish museum collection

publishes monographs, studies and articles in the field of

catalogues, catalogues of exhibitions, and art books.

art history and theory. Since its inception, the publishing

www.mmcentras.lt, Milda Ivanauskienė

house has brought out the scholarly journal Acta Academiae Artium Vilnensis. Dedicated to both the cultural heritage and contemporary art phenomena, the art books,

Presvika

catalogues and reference books published by the press

The publishing house Presvika was established in 1996.

play a significant role in the analysis of Lithuanian art.

Since then, it has brought out a large number of books,

www.leidykla.vda.lt, Marius Iršėnas

both by Lithuanian authors and translations. It focuses on educational, psychological and cognitive children’s literature, although this publishing house publishes attractive books of children’s fiction as well. www.presvika.lt, Violeta Bilaišytė

Science and Encyclopaedia Publishing Centre The Science and Encyclopaedia Publishing Centre publishes general and specialist encyclopaedias, monographs on social, natural and technical sciences, technical and linguistic dictionaries, scholarly works by foreign authors, popular science books, and the magazine Gimtoji kalba. www.melc.lt, Rimantas Kareckas

` \ 56 | Lithuania

57 | The London Book Fair Baltic Countries Market Focus 2018

British Council

British Council The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We create friendly knowledge and understanding between the people of the UK and other countries. We do this by making a positive contribution to the UK and the countries we work with – changing lives by creating opportunities, building connections and engendering trust.

We work with over 100 countries across the world in the fields of arts and culture, English language, education and civil society. Last year we reached over 65 million people directly and 731 million people overall including online, broadcasts and publications. Founded in 1934, we are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter and a UK public body. www.britishcouncil.org @LitBritish

58 | The London Book Fair Baltic Countries Market Focus 2018

Partners

The London Book Fair

The Publishers Association

The London Book Fair (LBF) is the global marketplace for rights negotiation and the sale and distribution of content across print, audio, TV, film and digital channels. Taking place every spring in the world’s premier publishing and cultural capital, it is a unique opportunity to explore, understand and capitalise on the innovations shaping the publishing world of the future. LBF brings you direct access to customers, content and emerging markets.

LBF 2018, the 47th Fair, will take place from 10 – 12 April 2018, Olympia London. LBF’s London Book & Screen Week will run for the fourth year, with the book fair as the pivotal three-day event within a seven-day programme.

London Book & Screen Week will begin on Monday 9 April. The Baltic Countries; Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are the Market Focus Countries in 2018.

The Publishers Association (the PA) represents book, journal, audio and electronic publishers in the UK, spanning fiction and non-fiction, academic and educational publishing. Our members include global companies such as Elsevier, Wiley, Pearson, Penguin Random House, Hachette and the University presses, as well as many independent publishing houses. UK publishing generates up to £7.8bn Gross Value Added (GVA) for the wider UK economy and supports more than 70,000 jobs.

Our objective as an association is to provide our members with the influence, insight and services necessary to compete and prosper. www.publishers.org.uk @PublishersAssoc

www.londonbookfair.co.uk @LondonBookFair

59 | The London Book Fair Baltic Countries Market Focus 2018

Baltic Partners

Estonian Literature Centre

Lithuanian Culture Institute

Estonian Literature Centre is an independent, non-profit institution established in 2001 and financed by the Estonian Ministry of Culture. ELIC exists to generate interest in Estonian literature abroad by facilitating professional contacts. ELIC maintains an English language database on Estonian literature, trains literary translators and showcases Estonian literature and writers abroad.

The Lithuanian Culture Institute presents Lithuania to the world through culture. In pursuit of its mission, LCI collaborates with Lithuanian cultural attachés, Lithuanian diplomatic missions and other institutions. In the literary field, LCI sponsors a translation grant programme, consults and informs foreign publishers and translators on issues related to Lithuanian literature, organises seminars for translators and literary events abroad. LCI participates in international book fairs in Bologna, Frankfurt, Leipzig and London.

www.estlit.ee www.lithuanianculture.lt

International Writers’ and Translators’ House, Latvia The International Writers’ and Translators’ House, Latvia is in charge of the management and development of the Latvian Literature platform, as well as Latvia’s participation in the London Book Fair from 2016 to 2019.

The Latvian Literature platform was established in order to promote recognition of Latvian literature and its distribution abroad, thus ensuring international cooperation among publishers, literary agents, writers, translators, and organisations working in the fields of literature and publishing. www.latvianliterature.lv

60 | The London Book Fair Baltic Countries Market Focus 2018

Partners

British Library

Calvert 22

The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and one of the world’s greatest research libraries. It provides world class information services to the academic, business, research and scientific communities and offers unparalleled access to the world’s largest and most comprehensive research collection.

The Library’s collection has developed over 250 years and exceeds 150 million separate items representing every age of written civilisation and includes books, journals, manuscripts, maps, stamps, music, patents, photographs, newspapers and sound recordings in all written and spoken languages. Up to 10 million people visit the British Library website every year where they can view up to 4 million digitised collection items and over 40 million pages.

Calvert 22 Foundation is a not-for profit organisation that celebrates the culture and creativity of the New East – Eastern Europe, the Balkans, Russia and Central Asia – enriching perceptions of the region and furthering international understanding.

61 | The London Book Fair Baltic Countries Market Focus 2018

Partners

Daunt Books

Glasgow Women’s Library

The South End Road branch of Daunt Books opened in 2001, bringing truly independent bookselling and regular literary events to Hampstead.

Glasgow Women’s Library is the only Accredited Museum in the UK dedicated to women’s lives, histories and achievements, with a lending library, archive collections and innovative programmes of public events and learning opportunities. It is unique in Scotland and is proud to champion women’s contributions to Scotland’s culture.

MODERN POETRY IN TR ANSL ATION The best of world poetry

MODERN POETRY IN TR ANSL ATION

English PEN

Modern Poetry in Translation

English PEN is a registered charity that promotes the freedom to write and the freedom to read in the UK and around the world. We speak out for writers, bloggers, publishers, translators and journalists at risk, take our love of books to new audiences at events and community workshops all year round, and get the written word out by helping British publishers to support the best in world literature.

Modern Poetry in Translation (MPT) publishes the best world poetry in the best translations.

Founded by Ted Hughes and Daniel Weissbort in 1965, the magazine has introduced a number of famous poets and iconic translations to the English-speaking world. Now edited by Clare Pollard and published three times a year, MPT features translations, essays and reviews that explore what it means to be a citizen of the world.

62 | The London Book Fair Baltic Countries Market Focus 2018

Moon Lane Books

National Poetry Library

Moon Lane Books is a brand new bookshop in South East London. We support equality in children’s books through our shop, events and workshops. We aim to create a fully integrated range of books to our shop, to reflect London’s diverse population in terms of gender, ethnicity, class, disability, socio-economic status, sexual orientation and culture. The range will develop as a work in progress, highlighting the best books that are currently available and helping to support emerging authors and illustrators from a diverse range of backgrounds and experiences.

Moon Lane Ink CIC has grown out of Tales on Moon Lane Children’s Bookshop, winner of the British Book Awards’ Independent Bookshop of the Year 2017.

The National Poetry Library is the largest public collection of modern and contemporary poetry in the world. It is open to everyone and free to join (on proof of UK address). The library runs a monthly event series called Special Edition and a programme of exhibitions which run throughout the year. The library’s website at www.nationalpoetrylibrary.org.uk is a great way to see at a glance what events are taking place across the UK.

63 | The London Book Fair Baltic Countries Market Focus 2018

Notes

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