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VISEGRAD FOCUS: Belarus

VISEGRAD FOCUS: Belarus

This project is co-financed by the governments of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia through a grant from the International Visegrad Fund. The mission of this fund is to develop the ideas of sustainable regional cooperation in Central Europe

Partners  involved in the implementation of the project:

We know little about contemporary Belarus, even less about Belarusian independent culture and literature. We want to raise awareness of Belarus's independent literary scene and send a clear signal from the V4 countries that we stand for the part of society represented by writers that cares about human rights, freedom of speech and democratic values.

We want to invite 12 Belarusian writers to the Prague Book Fair Book World, where they would become one of the guest countries this year. This is a unique opportunity that will draw great attention to Belarusian culture. In addition to Prague, the Belarusian authors and their performances will be presented in Poland, Slovakia and Hungary, as echoes of this show. Our project reflects the current situation in Belarus, and although it is a cultural project, it undoubtedly has broader overlaps in cultivating civil society and supporting the current political opposition in Belarus, which has been the target of mass arrests and other state repression since the last presidential election.

We expect to use the existing capacities of large literary festivals and book fairs in the V4 countries. It will therefore not be necessary to build a new infrastructure for the project, but we will present independent Belarusian literature where the audience, the professional public and the media are used to it. Our main partner on the Belarusian side is the local PEN Club. The purpose of our project is not only to support Belarusian writers in difficult times, but above all to create a functional network between the Belarusian and Visegrad literary scene. Institutions from the V4 countries (universities, media) are involved in the project, the events themselves will take place at book fairs and festivals in the V4 countries, which have a platform with their own audience and reach.

Project outputs:

1. 7. – 23. 9. 2021 Catalogue - English version (PDF), Czech version (PDF)
20. 9. 2021 Press conference
23. 9. – 26. 9. 2021 Presentation of belarusian literature at the Book World Prague
27. 9. – 29. 9. 2021 Presentation of belarusian literature in Brno
1. 4. – 30. 5. 2022 Presentation of belarusian literature in Poland at Kino na hranici
1.5. – 30.6. 2022 Presentation of belarusian literature at BRAK in Bratislava
1.7. – 31. 10 2022 Videoarchive

Project coordinator: Vanda Košuličová

Grant support: 23.000 EUR

Implementation period: 1. 7. 2021 – 31. 12. 2022

 


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