Odesa Int’l Literature Festival to Take Place in Batumi
The VIII International Literature Festival Odesa, the main theme of which will be Russia’s war against Ukraine and its impact on the world, is scheduled to take place in the coastal city of Batumi, Georgia, this year from October 5-8.
In a post about the festival, organizers noted the symbolic nature of holding the festival in Batumi where monuments have been dedicated to two prominent Ukrainian writers, Taras Shevchenko and Lesia Ukrainka.
“A kind of literary bridge of friendship and solidarity will be stretched from one part of the Black Sea to another,” the organizers’ statement emphasized.
Organizers highlighted that Batumi “as a long-standing partner of Odesa” will host Ukrainian, Georgian, German, Swiss, Polish, Romanian, Turkish, and other international authors and participants for the festival which will include joint Georgian-Ukrainian poetry readings, a children’s literature program, presentations of new novels, discussions, and a translation workshop.
A special reading for Ukrainian refugee children will also be organized as part of the events. Notably, the festival will take place in a hybrid format with some participants from Ukraine expected to participate online and all events to be broadcast on Youtube and Facebook.
The festival is organized by the Peter Weiss Foundation for Art and Politics (Germany), the Literature Initiative Georgia, and Books in Batumi Publishing, while the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (Germany), the Jan Michalski Foundation (Switzerland), the international literature festival berlin (ilb), the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport of Autonomous Republic of Adjara, Batumi City Hall, Prohelvetia (Switzerland) and Batumi State University will support the event.
This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)