BISHKEK hosts Central Asia’s first international literature festival and book forum to focus on developing the region’s publishing sector, this weekend (24-25 November), with a literary competition prize fund worth $15,000 USD.
The Open Central Asia Book Forum and Literary Festival unites international, regional and local authors, publishing companies, Government departments and agencies, educational institutions, retailers, and readers, organised by British publishers Silk Road Media.
Readings by international literary figures such as Janusz Leon Wisniewski (Poland) and Hamid Ismailov (UK and Uzbekistan) will take place alongside the launch of a biography of renowned Soviet-era Central Asian art collector Igor Savitsky, by Marinika Babanazarova, current curator of the museum he founded in Nukus, Uzbekistan.
The winners of a literary competition will also be announced, with prizes worth $15,000 USD: publication of the winning entry in the UK by Hertfordshire Press, and attendance at the London Book Fair in 2013. The competition’s categories are: literary work; literary translation; and illustration.
Attendees will discuss the promotion of Central Asian literature abroad as well as how best to integrate international educational literature into regional educational systems. The festival will include book readings, masterclasses on literary translation, poetry, speed-reading and featured books, as well as panel discussions on common issues facing the publishing sector and development of modern literature in Central Asia.
