There are several festivals focusing on literature in Slovakia and one of them kicked off May 17 in the capital. The Bratislava Book (Knižný) Festival, aka BRaK festival, in the Pisztory Palace in Štefánikova Street presents famous and outstanding personages of domestic and international literature, book illustrations and design until May 20, the TASR newswire wrote.
The programme of the festival’s fifth year includes discussions with writers, concerts, workshops, exhibitions and presentations of more than 30 publishers.
Foreign personages
Foreign guests include German graphic designer and cartoonist Reinhard Kleist, Italian illustrator Luigi Serafini, Chinese dissident poet/writer and musician Liao I-wu, Angolan/Portuguese author Goncalo M. Tavares (whose most notable work is Jerusalem), Iraqi-born film director and writer living in Finland Hassan Blasim (The Madman of Freedom Square was long-listed for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize in 2010, later Iraqi Christ was awarded it in 2014), Czech Tereza Říčanová and others.
Among exhibitions included in BRaK, the French Institute in Slovakia is presenting one of the currently most famous French illustrators with unique books, Laurent Moreau. “…His work easily crosses the lines between comic, traditional graphic art, design and illustration,” Daniela Zelenáková of the French Institute told TASR. His work will be exhibited in the Institute’s gallery beginning May 17.
Another renowned French illustrator whose creativity will be shown in Bratislava is Anne-Margot Rammstein. Her artwork will be exhibited in Art Books Coffee gallery on Baštová Street. Her illustrations can be found not just in books but also in French newspapers and magazines (e.g. Le Monde, George and DADA). Both exhibitions last until June 19.
