The Tirana Times publishing house and the Albanian Institute for International Studies (AIIS) are also participating in the book fair with a joint stand with dozens of book titles.
TIRANA, April 17 – Dozens of publishers from Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia are participating in a five-day book and art festival which opened on April 23, the World Book Day. The National Museum of History and the National Art Gallery will be the main hosts of the first festival of this kind.
“There will be a lot of events including visual arts, pantomimes, literature forums, public readings and book promotions,” says Arlinda Dudaj, the organizer of the event.
The Tirana Times publishing house and the Albanian Institute for International Studies (AIIS) are also participating in the book fair with a joint stand with dozens of book titles featuring Albanian authors such as Sabri Godo, Prec Zogaj and winners of Nobel Prize for Literature such as Samuel Beckett and Herta Muller. Several publications by the AIIS Library of International Relations & History from Bernd Fischer, Francis Fukuyama, Dominique Moisi etc are featured in the stand.
“The beautiful thing about this festival is that words and images come together,” said Culture Minister Mirela Kumbaro at the opening of the fair.
The Culture Ministry launched the” One coffee, one book” initiative targeting to establish a map of literary caf고in Tirana.
“The creation of this map remains a challenge for the ministry, but considering the growing interest of some coffee bars in Tirana which are promoting reading among youth, we think it is the right time to offer partnership” said minister Mirela Kumbaro.
The festival scheduled to be held from April 23 to 27 will award the Danish Jukni prize for the best visual art work and the Ardian Klosi award to the author of the year.
The event is supported by the Ministry of Culture which has angered the Association of Publishers organizing the annual book fair which this year failed to get financial support from the ministry.
Albanian publishers also recently participated in the Skopje Albanian book fair held from April 8 to 14.
April 23 is a symbolic date for world literature. It is on this date in 1616 that Cervantes, Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega all died.
It was a natural choice for UNESCO’s General Conference, held in Paris in 1995, to pay a world-wide tribute to books and authors on this date, encouraging everyone, and in particular young people, to discover the pleasure of reading and gain a renewed respect for the irreplaceable contributions of those, who have furthered the social and cultural progress of humanity. In this regard, UNESCO created the World Book and Copyright Day.
“Our goal is clear – to encourage authors and artists and to ensure that more women and men benefit from literacy and accessible formats, because books are our most powerful forces of poverty eradication and peace building,” says UNESCO director Irina Bokova.
