November

Eugenija Valienė
www.kamane.lt , 2009 11 23

Kaunas Book Days 2009. Photos by E. Valienė

Kaunas writers presented their books

Participants of the dispute

Popular literature triumphed

In brief: The fair “Kaunas Book Days 2009” was organised for the first time at Kaunas shopping and entertainment centre Mega on the 19th-22nd of November. The first day was dedicated to Kaunas writers, even though it did not attract too many visitors. Books were presented by the public institution Weekly Nemunas, Maironis Lithuanian Literature Museum, chairman of the Lithuanian Writers’ Union, Kaunas Branch, V. Rudžianskas spoke about books of Kaunas writers.

When the book of the winner of the Poetry Spring 2008 V.Rudžianskas “From DO to DO“ was presented, the author was assisted by the poetess Violeta Šoblinskaitė Aleksa. The speakers seemed to be lonely as only Nemunas employees and several accidental passers-by listened to them.

In the afternoon new books published by the public institution Weekly Nemunas were introduced to a small circle of people again. Only three authors participated. V.Šoblinskaitė Aleksa discussed the books of the writers G.Patackas and D.Kajokas, who did not arrive at the event, “Except for the Date at the Post Office" and “Accords: 1+2”. Gvidas Lãtakas read some of his poetry. Vytautas Stankus was interviewed by the poetess, literature critic Erika Drungytė.

The event dedicated to new Nemunas books ended by the presentation of the newest book of Gasparas Aleksa. The books of V.Šoblinskaitė Aleksa were introduced by V.Rudžianskas.

On the second day the programme of the fair started with the presentation of Letas Palmaitis book “Guessed Puzzles of the Millennium”. The organisers called the Saturday programme of “Kaunas Book Fair 2009” “Family Day”; however, there were hardly more visitors in the fair than in previous days. The morning presentation of the book “Let’s Sing the Alphabet” by Violeta Židonytė attracted the biggest number of children and grown-ups. The audience was also interested in the book of tales published by Algirdas and Živilė Petrauskai “How the Sparrow was Adopted”.

During the presentation of Salemonas Paltanavičius book “I am Lithuanian”, the author expressed his regret regarding the Lithuanian language getting poorer and emphasised the question of identity. The entire afternoon was dedicated to life facts of Gintarė Karaliūnaitė and Larisa Kalpokaitė and the journalistic novel, which is getting popular in Lithuania these days.

Sunday was intended for more spiritual things. The presentation of “Books of Name-days” did not take place due to the lack of people; meanwhile, a large crowd of curious people gathered to the presentation of books published by the publishing house Amžinoji Uola at 2 p.m. The event was headed by the bishop of the Seventh Day Adventist Church Bertold Hibner and pastor Deividas Vanagas. The latter advertised books related with family psychology.

The revival of the old dispute became the event that lured the greatest number of people. The leader of the dispute was Julius Žėkas. He announced the theme of the dispute: “Importance of Pontificate of Benedict XVI“ and invited the priest Kęstutis Kėvalas and opponent, lecturer of Vilnius University Faculty of Philosophy Mindaugas Kubilius to the dispute. After the dispute the audience had to express which side they supported by applause. The priest K.Kėvalas became the winner.

41 participants took part in the fair of books in total. Not all of them presented books – there were also 3D photographs, educational maps, playful pictures or attempts to photograph auras in the fair “Kaunas Book Days 2009”.