Publishing house Pectus and Conservatory in Košice realized a second year of Litteriada on 21st to 24th September 2010 and it took place in Košice Culturepark. This event highly contributed to a discussion with public about the contemporary situation of literature in five countries. International literary festival took place thanks to the support of Ministry of Culture and private sponsors. Without their help, the event wouldn’t have had the appropriate quality.
Four evenings were carried out in spirit of Lithuanian, Polish, Austrian, German as well as Slovak literary café. The authorial discussion not only about own production was attended by the most important writers from individual countries.
Lithuanian literature was represented by Birutė Jonuškaitė (madam vice chairperson of Lithuanian Writers Association) and Vladas Braziūnas, Polish by Marek Wawrzkiewicz (chairman of Polish Authors Association), Elżbieta Musiał and Marta Świderska-Pelinko, Austrian by Beppo Beyerl, German by Martin Becker and Slovak by Ľudovít Petraško and Peter Karpinský whose books Bygone Times and Antisumption were published in the publishing house Pectus in 2009. The main aim of the festival, just as two years ago, was the presentation of not so popular, but very important authors from some European countries, including the home literary scene.
Litteriada’s highlight was a concert Musicus Poesis organized by students and teachers from the Conservatory in Košice. This extraordinary event connected the classical music with an artistically impressive theatrical recitation and the audience carried off the unforgettable experience. The poems of main festival guests could also be heard during the concert.
Acknowledgements from the organizers side belong not only to the media partners (Slovak Television, TV Region, TV Ours, daily Corsair, Book Revue and the magazine Touches), but also to other media participants (Slovak Broadcasting Company, The News Agency of the Slovak Republic and Slovak News Agency) which decided to contribute to the popularization of unpopular literature. Foreign guests themselves expressed their admiration of an enormous media promotion of this most important literary event in Slovakia. Acknowledgements also go to the Transport Enterprise of the town Košice which took care of the mass posters distribution.
Although Poland has never profited from the production of wine, that were just Polish companies (John Lubera, Mary Anne and Płochocký Family Vineyard) which provided the highest quality wine for the festival, because wine has always been inseparable from poetry. Biesiada Catering Company took care of the refreshment for guests during all four evenings.
Photoreportage from the second edition of the annual Litteriada Festival:
