International Vilnius Book Fair, to be held for the 11th time on 18-21 February, in the Lithuanian Exhibition Centre LITEXPO, will highlight the identity issue this year and invite for a discussion on who we are and who we will be.

“By raising this issue in the cultural programme, the Fair invites everyone to think about both social and personal identity. We hope the discussions on historical, cultural, ethnic identity issues or talks about the identity of a child, teenager, adult will interest a lot of fans of Vilnius Book Fair, the same as other numerous and very diverse and unforgettable events to be held at this year’s Fair. We are really happy about that, because for a long time there was a fair that universal shortage of funds will prevent us from organising an interesting and diverse programme of events this year", said Deputy Director of the Lithuanian Exhibition Centre LITEXPO Ms. Kristina Pladienė.  

This year, over 160 publishing houses, bookshops, various cultural organisations from 8 countries of the world will introduce their novelties at Vilnius Book Fair, there will be about 200 various events, jazz nights, concerts, plays, art exhibitions, as well as meetings with Lithuanian and foreign authors and publishers waiting for the visitors.

At the invitation of the publishing houses to meet Lithuanian readers, a lot of famous foreign authors will visit the Fair this year again, traditionally the most prominent Lithuanian writers and poets will also be the guests of the Fair. Tyto Alba publishing house invited the author of the novel Sophie's World Mr. Jostein Gaarder and famous British historian, author of the book Young Stalin  Mr. Simon Sebag Montefiore. Alma littera publishing house invited Melvin Burgess, the author of the novels for young people The Junk, Lady: My Life as a Bitch, Doing It, and others, Baltos lankos publishing house – Karin Alvtegen, the author of The Shame, The Betrayal, The Guilt, and other novels, Versus Aureus publishing house – Joanne Harris, the author of the novels The Chocolate, Five Quarters of the Orange, The Lollipop Shoes, Vaga publishing house – Peep Vain, the author of the book The Basic Instinct, Polish Institute – famous contemporary Polish writer, author of the novel Lala - Jacek Dehnel.   

Traditionally, visitors will be invited to the Discussion club, art exhibitions. This year, the Fair will house the photograph exhibitions by Alphonsas Lingis and Algis Griškevičius. 

Same as every year, the vents for the whole family will take place in the hall dedicated to children. Its highlight will be the creative studio You Can Create a Book. The author of the studio idea, graphic artist, book illustrator Sigutė Chlebinskaitė with her team will invite the visitors to experience new adventures in the Book Land offering lots of readings, meetings, creation. 

The Fair will introduce also new projects. For the first time, a Gourmets Meeting Corner will be organised where culinary books boasting huge popularity both in Lithuania and foreign countries will be presented "live". Nomeda Marčėnaitė, Beata Nicholson, Linas Samėnas, and others promised to reveal their kitchen secrets to the visitors. Vilnius Bookbinders’ Guild will introduce the traditions of bookbinding craft for the first time. During four days of the Fair, a book will be bound, and visitors will be able to make their contributions to this work. Visitors will also be invited to writing one book together. It is a new project of the Fair – JAM SESSION – the phenomenon that came from the music world. Its organisers will try to take a fresh look at book creation. 

 Same as every year, each day of the Fair will have its own name. The first day of the Fair – the 18^th of February is intended for specialists and will be called THE LIBRARY DAY. The 19^th of February is announced THE LONG FRIDAY and the Fair will be open until 9 p.m. The 20^th of February, Saturday, again will be THE DAY OF EXTRAORDINARY MEETINGS, while the 21^st of February, Sunday – THE FAMILY DAY.

Considering long queues of visitors at the booking offices, the organisers recommend booking tickets in advance. Tickets are available at Bilietai.lt box offices or onlinehttp://www.bilietai.lt.

The complete programme of the Book Fair events is available on http://www.litexpo.lt

LITEXPO press centre

Phone (8 5) 2686821

E-mail: r.keliuotyte@litexpo.lt