The annual four-day Vilnius Book Fair opened on February 22 at the Litexpo exhibition centre in Vilnius. The fair featured hundreds of events, ranging from meetings with authors to discussions on various issues, including a focus on artificial intelligence and its impact on the creative writing. The event also included concerts.
The city offered free bus service taking passengers from the Cathedral Square to the venue.
This year’s lineup of authors included Undinė Radzevičiūtė, Rolandas Rastauskas, Antanas Šileika, Alvydas Šlepikas, Sigitas Parulskis, Tomas Venclova, Bernardas Gailius, Tomas Dirgėla, Diana Kleponė, Herkus Kunčius, Antanas A. Jonynas, Norbertas Černiauskas, Gabija Grušaitė, Mantas Adomėnas, Gina Viliūnė, Marius Čepulis, Rimantas Kmita, Andrius Tapinas, Violeta Tapinienė, Lina Žutautė. Dalia Staponkutė, Vaiva Rykštaitė, Andrius Kleivas, Jolita Herlyn will also participate in the fair.
The international guests at Vilnius Book Fair included over 20 authors: Inga Abele, Deborah Feldman, Graeme Macrae Burnet, Eshkol Nevo, Kristina Ohlsson, Anna Kaminska, Ilmar Taska, Laura Vinogradova, Eva Mattsson, Kateryna Michalicyna, Paolo Giordano, Nigel Warburton, Karen Swan and others.
Also offered were book presentations by Ukrainian authors and poetry readings in Ukrainian and Lithuanian by poets who have been killed or are fighting in the war.
In addition to the usual events, discussions and meetings with authors, Vilnius Book Fair visitors were also treated to a music hall, performances and children’s entertainment.
According to the organizers, about 300 publishing houses and other cultural organizations from Lithuania and abroad took part in the annual event, with more than 50,000 visitors.
(Photos from Book Fair website and Facebook gallery)
