Budapest International Book Festival to be held 20-23 April

Budapest, April 12 (MTI) – The 24th Budapest International Book Festival will be held between 20-23 April, András Sándor Kocsis, head of the Hungarian Publishers’ and Booksellers’ Association, told a press briefing on Wednesday.

The festival, to be held at the Millenaris cultural centre in Buda, will host nearly 150 exhibitors and 500 programmes, including book presentations, signings, concerts and discussions, he said.

Guest of honour will be Turkish Nobel prize laureate Orhan Pamuk, whose 1982 debut novel is to be published for the first time in Hungarian this year, Bence Sarközy of the Libri Publishing Group told the press briefing. Countries of honour will be the Visegrad countries, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, he said.

Everything about the Budapest International Book Festival

International Book Festival Budapest, held for the 24th time in 2017, is a recognized event of the international world of books, as one of the important professional and intellectual forums of the region.

The Book Festival awaits its visitors at Millenáris, which provides a rich cultural milieu, a modern atmosphere, an even smarter exhibition area and very good accessibility.

International Book Festival Budapest traditionally invites the most renowned authors of the world. Award ceremony of Budapest Grand Prize and the on-stage conversation with the prize-winner will be a special event of the upcoming Book Festival.

Budapest Grand Prize gained its significance by the fact that it was presented to the most outstanding representatives of contemporary world literature: Ernst Jandl (1995), Ephraim Kishon (1996), Imre Kertész (1997), Salman Rushdie (1998), Victor Yerofeyev (1999), Sławomir Mrożek (2000), Robert Merle (2001), Lawrence Norfolk (2002), Mario Vargas Llosa (2003), Günter Grass (2004), Paulo Coelho (2005), Jorge Semprún (2006), Umberto Eco (2007), Bret Easton Ellis (2008), Ljudmila Ulickaja (2009), Amos Oz (2010), Per Olov Enquist (2011), Claudio Magris (2012), Michel Houellebecq (2013), Sofi Oksanen (2014), Jonathan Franzen (2015) and Jostein Gaarder (2016). In 2017, Orhan Pamuk will receive the award.

After the highly successful Guest of Honour presentations of Poland, the Czech Republic, Italy, France, Germany, Russia, Spain, Canada, China, Romania, Israel, the European Union, the Nordic Countries and Turkey the highlight fell on Slovakia to introduce the literature and the publishing industry of the country in 2016. In 2017, apropos of the upcoming Hungarian presidency of the Visegrad Group, our partner countries, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia will be jointly introduced.

European First Novel Festival will be held for the 17th time within the frame of the Book Festival to introduce talented young authors from the members of the European Union. This event is a joint effort of 28 EU-member countries.

International Book Festival Budapest hosts about 100 authors from 25 countries, more than 400 Hungarian authors, scientists, and artists and offers a wide range of cultural programs, such as meetings with authors, signings sessions, book premiers and presentations, roundtable discussions, concerts, theatre performances, exhibitions and films.

The Book Festival is also a professional and business forum, where trade meetings, conferences and lectures are held on the key issues of the book market and of reading habits. Librarians’ Club, the professional event of librarians is one of the special features of the Book Festival.

International Book Festival Budapest is a major fair with about 60.000 visitors annually, about 50.000 titles and hundreds of new publications.

Gyerek(b)irodalom (Children’s Lit Kingdom) is organized especially for children to satisfy the interest and needs of young generations with promotion of children’s books and special programs for kids.

Photo: konyvfesztival.com

Source: MTI/http://www.konyvfesztival.com