Tbilisi International Book Fair 2019
By Mariam Chanishvili
Thursday, May 23
The 21st annual Tbilisi International Book Fair will take place from May 30 till June 2.
Within the festival, the International Publishers Association (IPA) delegation, featuring Hugo Setzer, the president of IPA, will visit Georgia. Jose Borghino - IPA CEO, will also be a part of the group from Geneva, as will Wilmar Diepgrond, chairperson of the Educational Publishers Forum.
The festival will be opened by the members of the Georgian Publishers and Booksellers Association (GPBA), including its chairperson, Gvantsa Jobava.
The fair is set this year in four Pavilions of Expo Georgia—Pavilions 3, 5, 6, and 11)—with a special emphasis on young readers in Pavilion 6, where the visitors can find children’s books and various events for kids.
Tbilisi International Book Fair continues a tradition of Focus Country, and this year, Finland enjoys the status. The program of the Focus Country will be organized and implemented by FILI (Finnish Literature Exchange), one of the most successful literature organizations across the globe.
Linda Bondestam will be among the special guests throughout the festival, along with Henrik Meinander.
Bondestam, one of the best-known Nordic illustrators, has illustrated more than 25 books that have been translated into 10 languages.
She has been nominated for the Finlandia Junior Prize three times; Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award five times; as well as the Nordic Council’s Children and Young People’s Literature Prize in 2013 and the August Prize in 2016.
Henrik Meinander is professor of history at the University of Helsinki and the author of many acclaimed books on Finnish and Nordic history. He was formerly a curator of the Mannerheim Museum in Helsinki and the head of the Finnish Institute in Stockholm.
Also, from May 30 to June 1, the Austrian writer and essayist Robert Menasse will visit Tbilisi International Festival as a special guest.
Within the framework of the festival, the project "Actors for Literature" will take place for the second time. The project is supported by Silknet.
Theater and movie actors will present books by Georgian and foreign authors (in Georgian) in the designated area at one of the Pavilions. Teenagers will be able to participate in the project together with well-known Georgian artists. At the end of each day, the guests of the festival will present short performances by the Georgian playwrights.
The author of the project is the actress Nino Kasradze, who has brought together 40 performers in one space to popularize literature together.
The festival is organized by the Georgian Publishers and Booksellers Association and supported by Tbilisi City Hall.
Held annually since 1998 by the GBPA, the Tbilisi International Book Fair has recently drawn more than 60,000 visitors each year and has seen the rising media attention.
It’s been announced that next year’s focus country will be Turkey, with a handover ceremony planned as Finland’s turn comes to an end on June 2.
