The Fabula Festival – Literature of the World is the biggest and most visited literary festival in Slovenia and the wider region. Produced by the Beletrina Publishing Institute in collaboration with Cankarjev dom, Cultural and Congress Centre, the festival brings together world-class authors through well-considered curatorship. The festival selects distinguished authors each year and devotes attention to promising, up-and-coming writers. In addition to hosting renowned writers and establishing contact between international literature and Slovenian audiences, translated works of the selected authors are also published as part of the festival. The festival also features an annual theoretical focus on a relevant social issue, raising sociocritical issues and addressing contemporary challenges.
Programme
Founded in 2003, Fabula Festival has hosted an impressive set of modern classics. Reflecting an evolving concept, the festival is now based on a curator’s pick of a handful of authors, who are already considered literary classics or who have made a significant mark on world literature in recent years with their work.
The virtual Q&A between Japanese author Mieko Kawakami and Nagisa Moritoki Škof that was accompanied by a Butoh performance by Darinka Pillari took place at Cankarjev dom's Club CD in 2022. The event presented Summer Stories, Kawakami's 2019 novel.
Accompanying Programme
The festival's highly varied accompanying programme is intended for all generations of readers. It brings everything from children's and youth programmes (Young Fabula), interactive literary installations to the public space (Fabula polis), collaborations with Slovenian publishers and bookstores (Fabula selection), projects at the intersection of literature with theatre and other art genres (Fabula outside literature), to projects establishing the festival as an incubator of new literary ideas and future literary trends (Fabula Hub), thus strengthening the space of the wider literary and social community.
The award-winning British writer, academic and long-time fighter for greater inclusivity in literature, Bernardine Evaristo, joined the 2023 edition of the festival at the Itn Literary Breakfast (hosted by Fabula Festival and Itn.). Photo: Nina Pernat
The 2021 Fabula book collection lives through the illustrations of the designer and illustrator, Jure Brglez, aka Brglesita, which were presented at an exhibition at the City Hall Atria in Ljubljana. Here, the artist is accompanied by the festival's artistic director Aljaž Koprivnikar. Photo: Jaka Gaser
Fabula Festival's artistic director Aljaž Koprivnikar at the senior citizens home DSO Fužine, where he presented FabulaFotelj, a special project of the festival's 2022 edition. The interactive and movable armchair equipped with audiobooks was created together with ProstoRož.
See also
External links
Gallery
Niccolò Ammaniti's Jaz in ti (You and Me) book cover, 2010
Georgi Gospodinov, a Bulgarian poet, writer, and playwright, was a guest at the World Literatures - Fabula Festival in 2015. His novel The Physics of Sorrow, which was awarded the Bulgarian Novel of the Year prize was translated into Slovenian in 2015.
Vili Rezman (second from the left) presenting his awarded work in Konzorcij, at Mladinska knjiga Bookstores during Fabula Festival of Stories, 2009
The 2021 Fabula book collection lives through the illustrations of the designer and illustrator, Jure Brglez, aka Brglesita, which were presented at an exhibition at the City Hall Atria in Ljubljana. Here, the artist is accompanied by the festival's artistic director Aljaž Koprivnikar. Photo: Jaka Gaser
Under the guidance of mentors (Anja Koželj, Anja Koželj, Petra Stanišič), the children went on a literary treasure hunt, which took them to museums, libraries and bookstores, where they were given hints to continue the hunt. The event was part of the Young Fabula at the 2021 edition of the festival. Photo: Jaka Gaser
Fabula Festival's artistic director Aljaž Koprivnikar at the senior citizens home DSO Fužine, where he presented FabulaFotelj, a special project of the festival's 2022 edition. The interactive and movable armchair equipped with audiobooks was created together with ProstoRož.
The virtual Q&A between Japanese author Mieko Kawakami and Nagisa Moritoki Škof that was accompanied by a Butoh performance by Darinka Pillari took place at Cankarjev dom's Club CD in 2022. The event presented Summer Stories, Kawakami's 2019 novel.
The award-winning British writer, academic and long-time fighter for greater inclusivity in literature, Bernardine Evaristo, joined the 2023 edition of the festival at the Itn Literary Breakfast (hosted by Fabula Festival and Itn.). Photo: Nina Pernat
Opening event of Fabula Festival 2023 hosted the Ukrainian writer Oksana Zabužko, author of the novel Field Research of Ukrainian Sex, that was interpreted by drama actor Mario Dragojević. The conversation with the author was led by Ksenija Horvat.