The war will not prevent the holding of the Lviv Book Fair, the most important in Ukraine. Margaret Atwood and Neil Gaiman are among the international writers who will make the trip for this 29e editing.
Posted at 10:39
“We want to shed light on what is happening in Ukraine and why. And we explain it with the help of culture, writes Sofia Chelak, translator and curator of the literature festival on the official website of the event hosted by a British partner. We want to show the Ukrainian public how artists from all over the world are in solidarity with us, that Ukrainian authors and their voices are more necessary and valued than ever. »
Canadian writer Margaret Atwood, who won the 2019 Booker Prize for WillsFollowing The Scarlet Maid, will go there. “Putin’s war is an attack on democracy and freedom, not only in Ukraine, but all over the world,” she wrote on the website of the Lviv Book Fair. May this theater of ideas and talents inspire more of them to make their voices heard. »
Margaret Atwood is one of 1,000 authors who signed an open letter from PEN International, a writers’ association, in February calling for an end to the Russian invasion and expressing solidarity with the Ukrainian people. Neil Gaiman will also make the trip, as will the Tanzanian Literature Nobel Prize winner Abdulrazak Gurnah.
The Lviv Book Fair is held this year with the collaboration of the British Hay Festival, which supports the online transmission of 15 free events and collaborated on the program. Its website also hosts an English version of the program. The city of Lviv is located in western Ukraine, near the Polish border, more than 500 km from Kyiv.