Lithuania at the London Book Fair'18: Events in London and the UK

LITHUANI

© Jonas Mekas Selfportrait, Central Park, New York (1967)

Events in London and the UK

7th April

8th April

9th April

Saturday

Sunday

Monday

European Poetry Festival The European Camarade!

Baltic View Film Event Miracle with Q&A

Being Baltic: At the Crossroads of Influence

FEATURING Giedrė Kazlauskaitė (Lithua-

nia) & Simona Nastac (Romania/UK), Aušra Kaziliūnaitė (Lithuania) & Serena Braida (Italy/UK), Marius Burokas (Lithuania) & Tatiana Faia (Portugal/UK)

19:00

Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Green Rd, London E1 6LA Free entrance The grandstand event of the European Poetry Festival - 36 poets in 18 pairs presenting brand new collaborations of literary performance, made especially for the night.

Join us at the London premiere of a Lithuanian filmmaker’s Eglė Vertelytė debut film Miracle!

15:00–17:30

Rio Cinema, 107 Kingsland High Street, E8 2PB London It is 1992 and Lithuania has shifted from communism to capitalism, leaving the small collective pig farm managed by Irena, in dire straits. Irena struggles to keep the farm and her workers afloat when a handsome American, Bernardas, arrives pledging to save the struggling enterprise and turns Irena‘s family life and routine of the village upside-down.

As Irena begins to fall for his charms, she realizes that his intentions may not be entirely innocent… www.filmas-stebuklas.lt Duration 91 min This film is part of the ‘London Book&Screen Week’

Wheatsheaf Baltic Poetry Night 18:00–20:30

The Wheatsheaf, 25 Rathbone Place, Fitzrovia, London W1T 1JB Free entrance To celebrate the launch of the Parthian Baltic poetry series, the legendary pub in Fitzrovia will host an evening of readings from Aušra Kaziliūnaitė, Marius Burokas.& Giedrė Kazlauskaitė (Lithuania), Eeva Park & Veronika Kivisilla (Estonia), Madara Gruntmane, Eduards Aivars & Krišjānis Zeļģis (Latvia) and translations and discussion from Jayde Will, Rimas Uzgiris & Adam Cullen.

WITH Kristina Sabaliauskaitė (Lithuania), Mi-

hkel Mutt (Estonia) and Nora Ikstena (Latvia)

19:30–21:00

British Library, 96 Euston Rd, 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 concession) Book online: www.bl.uk

Events in London

European Poetry Festival Lithuanian & British poets collaborate!

FEATURING Marius Burokas (Lithuania)o&

George Szirtes (UK), Aušra Kaziliūnaitė (Lithuania) & Colin Herd (UK), Giedrė Kazlauskaite (Lithuania) & John Clegg (UK) CURATED BY SJ Fowler (UK) PARTNER The Poetry Society www.europeanpoetryfestival.com/lithuania

19:30

The Poetry Cafe, The Poetry Society, 22 Betterton St, London WC2H 9BX Free entrance A special focus event of the European Poetry Festival, some of the finest literary poets from Lithuania and their British contemporaries present brand new collaborations made for the night.

10th April

12th April

Tuesday

Thursday

A Reconstructed Future: What Stories Do We Tell About Lithuania in the 21st century?

PARTICIPANTS Marija Drėmaite & Mindau-

gas Kvietkauskas (Lithuania) LANGUAGE Lithuanian

19:00

Jonas Mekas: screening, talk and book signing: Conversations with Film-Makers

WITH Andrei Ivanov (Estonia) and Erika

20:30−23:00

PeckhamPlex,95A Rye Ln, London SE15 4ST

Embassy of Lithuania, 2 Bessborough Film screening: Out-Takes from the Life of a Gardens, London SW1V 2JE Happy Man, 2012, by Jonas Mekas Free entrance Book signing: Conversations with Film-MakA conversation between art historian Marija Drėmaitė and writer Mindaugas Kvietkauskas about the book Imagining Lithuania: 100 Years, 100 Visions. 1918–2018, and about the contemporary reconstruction of modern Lithuanian history.

The past two decades of Lithuanian independence might be called a renaissance of Lithuanian cultural memory. This period has witnessed the return and analysis of much of the country’s destroyed, forgotten or distorted historical legacy. To bring new meaning to this legacy, we recreate narratives about our history and argue about its symbols, while at the same time presenting new images of Lithuanian culture to the world. What narrative do we strive to create about Lithuania in the 21st century? How is our understanding of Lithuanian cultural identity changing? What visions of the future do these new narratives about a modern Lithuania inspire?

Writing from the edges of Europe: what’s the future for Baltic literature?

ers, 2018.

The avant-garde pioneer Jonas Mekas will be in conversation with Hans-Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director of the Serpentine Galleries PUBLISHER Spector Books PARTNERS The Serpentine Galleries, MUBI,

Spector Books, Lithuanian Culture Institute

Lastovskytė (Lithuania) CHAIRED BY Nadia Beard (UK)

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.

Joined by translator and publicist Erika Lastovskytė in an event chaired by Calvert Journal editor Nadia Beard to discuss the past, present and future of the Baltic literary identity.

World Poets Series WITH Tomas Venclova (Lithuania), Kārlis

Vērdiņš (Latvia) and Maarja Kangro (Estonia) CHAIRED BY Clare Pollard (UK)

20:00–21:30

The Poetry Library, Level 5, Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London SE1 8XX

Events in London

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, Karlis Verdins and Tomas Venclova. 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

Children of history WITH Nora Ikstena (Latvia) and Alvydas

Šlepikas (Lithuania) CHAIRED BY Carolyn Jess-Cooke (UK)

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 Carolyn Jess-Cooke to unpick the thorny connections between national history and the intimate relationship of the family.

In partnership with English PEN

13th April Friday European Poetry Festival The European Camarade : Manchester

Literary worlds with Undinė Radzevičiūtė and Erica Wagner 18:00-19:30

FEATURING Rimas Uzgiris (Lithuania) &

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Robert Sheppard (UK); Marius Burokas (Lithuania) & James Byrne (UK) and others

19:00

The International Anthony Burgess Foundation, Engine House, Chorlton Mill. 3 Cambridge Street. Manchester M1 5BY Free entrance Bringing together some of the finest modern poets of the thriving Manchester scene in collaborative pairs with writers visiting from Norway, Lithuania, Latvia, France, Germany and Italy, this special Camarade event will present new duets of live literature made especially for the night.

PA R T N E R S

Pop Up Creators Exhibition 10 April—20 May 2018

The Royal Over Seas League, 5 Park Pl, St. James’s, London SW1A 1LR Artworks produced by young artists from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the UK wil be showcased in an exhibition at the Royal Over-Seas League in Mayfair. Co-curated by Pop Up Projects and House of Illustration, the exhibition features some of the best work from collaborations between 18 published children’s illustrator mentors and 150 talented young artists from the four countries who each produced illustrated stories in a distinct ‘leporello’ (concertina) format.

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PA PA R T N E R S RTNERS

BOOK FAIR – 1C60

© Aušra Kiudulaitė

vydas Šlepikas have hoods lived out under Join us at Europe House for an evening with – Ikstena’s novel Soviet Lithuanian writer Undinė Radzevičiūtė. She e generations of women is an internationally acclaimed writer, the aulepikas looking at the thor of five novels and a collection of short wolf children’, who came stories and winner of the European Union nd of the Second World Prize for Literature. The novel that won this svydas memoir In thehave Days of Šlepikas epikas have prize, Fishes and Dragons, is a story about f her life in an ultra-hardhoods lived out under ed out under civilisations, of Chinese traditions and Westmentalist creationist sect.

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Europe House, 32 Smith Square London SW1P 3EU