Fair News 4/2013

On Saturday morning, Book World played host to a programme moderated by Kateřina Děkanovská and entitled The Poetry of Holy Scriptures. Three leading experts in the field took a look at some of world religions’ essential texts from the perspective of poetry, discover­ ing many poetic elements, language and style. Jaroslav Strnad talked about the poetic qualities of the Indian Vedas. According to him most these ancient texts have great reli­ gious value but contemporary Indian readers find them almost incomprehensible. They de­ scribe a pastoral world, half patriarchal and polytheist, and their hymns praise the various divinities, using a highly sophisticated poetic language. The poets of those ancient days were professionals, coming from various clans and families. Their craft was passed from gene­ ration to another in oral form and the authors would have struggled with competition. As regards the Old Testament, Hana Ton­ zarová explained that here poetry is a very wide­ranging topic, since poetic passages are interwoven into the entire text. This would be specifically true of songs, which were at first also an oral tradition and only later were they recorded in writing. Prosaic texts only emerged later around the songs and utter­ ances of the prophets. Almost the entire Old Testament is composed of poetic books, among which the Cry of Jeremiah is the most notable. As far as poetic passages in the New Testament are concerned, they are exclusively christocentric – pertaining to Jesus Christ. Then came the turn of Bronislav Ostřanský, who talked about the Muslims’ perception of the Qur’an. As the Muslims consider the Qur’an to represent the direct word of God, translating it to any other language besides Arabic was originally banned and translations only started appearing later. Still, the result­ ing text is never referred to as a translation per se – it is termed „a translation of mean­ ings“. Poetic passages appear in the Qur’an especially in the oldest phase of the revela­ tion, where much of the text adopts the form of prose in rhyme. All the lecturers concluded by reading excerpts from the various holy scriptures, offering a very good illustration of their previous words. IK Bestseller=sUCCess The programme was hosted by Pavel Man­ dys, who invited two representatives of pub­ lishing houses with plenty of experience in publishing best­selling books. The Host pub­ lishing house were represented by its director Tomáš Reichel, and Markéta Šlaufová took part on behalf of one of Albatros Media’s divi­ sions – xyz publishers. The third guest was the literary theoretician and expert on world publishing Jiří Trávníček. Sales topping ten thousand copies are usu­ ally considered as constituting the bottom line of a bestselling book by the Czech book market standards. While both publishers sup­ ported this statement, Jiří Trávníček sets an even higher limit. “For me the word bestseller is synonymous with every first edition of a new book by Michal Viewegh – this puts the limit at thirty five thousand copies.” Several successful works have recently exceeded even these sales. Some Czech publishers have shown good foresight in assessing the potential of certain foreign authors. This is true, for example, of the recent “king” of bestsellers, E. L. James’ Fifty Shades of Grey. xyz expressed interest in the original internet texts some time before the novel gained world­wide acclaim. Although these negotiations were inconclu­ sive, the story had a happy ending – xyz eventually received the copyright for publish­ ing all three parts of this softly erotic trilogy at the author’s express wish. A total of 240,000 of the first two parts has been sold already and the concluding volume also proves ex­ tremely profitable. This story is reminiscent of the Millennium trilogy by the Swedish author Stieg Larsson. Host publishers made it their choice even be­ fore it began dominating Europe’s literary charts. Since then these texts have exceeded all expectations. The key feature of a modern­day bestseller is that its appeal touches a wider audience than its original target group. Larsson proved especially masterful in this respect. Thanks to him, crime stories – a genre of limited follow­ ing – have come within the scope of pretty much everyone. Fifty Shades of Grey was orig­ inally intended for a relatively narrow target group of women between thirty and forty, having eventually enthralled all age catego­ ries of female readers and even many men. Pavel Mandys stressed that in a order for book to become a bestseller, the publisher must also provide it with sufficient marketing support. He mentioned the example of Jo Nesbø, who only started impacting on the Czech book market when published by Kniha zlín. And how are original Czech books faring? All publishers seem to be on a lookout for fu­ ture “bestselling authors”. Last year’s major discoveries include, among other, Kateřina Tučková, whose book Žítkovské bohyně has topped fifty thousand copies sold – a figure no doubt appreciated by Host, who have pub­ lished the book fourteen months ago. OnŠ The term bestseller celebrates one hundred and ten years since its first use. For pub- lishers and writers alike it is more attractive than the Holy Grail. While it may have a slightly different meaning for everyone, it generally stands for one thing – success. Can you tell a bestseller from an average book even before it is tested by the merci- less market? Such was the main topic of a debate held on Saturday afternoon at Book World. Holy scriptures as Poetry

THe OuTSTanDinG ByzanTine THeOlO- Gian, PHilOSOPHer anD, aBOve all, MOravia’S Main PaTrOn, HarDly ex- PeCTeD HiS WOrK TO STill Be THe SuB- jeCT OF DiSCuSSiOn in THe 21ST CenTury. anD yeT THiS iS exaCTly THe CaSe. Proglas is probably the very first historical piece of literature written in Old Slavonic. Its significance has bridged centuries. Contem­ porary Slovak poets have paid a tribute to Proglas by creating their very own interpreta­ tions of this prelude in verse. “We approached several authors and each had written his or her own version. The structure of all these po­ ems is based on Proglas, i.e. 110 verses, the 111th being Amen,” says the Slovak poetess, essayist and writer Dana Podracká. “I was always fascinated by the mosaic­like pattern of Proglas. Mosaics also played their role in the construction of temples, when the sun would shine through the windows on various pieces of the mosaic, making the image move. When I had first seen the Glagolitic script, it reminded me of that mosaic pattern. Even the individual letters have a mosaic­like design,” Dana Podracká added. Having read her own variations on the Pro­ glas, she handed the word over to the poet, literary researcher and translator Ján zambor, who introduced both Proglas itself, as well as his own interpretation of it. “I consider Prog­ las to be a poem, because it has all the charac­ teristic properties of a poem, its constru­ ction. I consider it Constantine’s great project, if I may say so. In many respects, this project was well ahead of its time. Not only did Con­ stantine make a poetic translation of the word of God, he had also cultivated the gene­ ral level of education through literature and the domestic language. I think it was a great national democratic idea.” Guests taking part in the debate, including the author of the Czech translation of Proglas Martin Kučera, emphasised the contemporary significance of the work, whose message is still very much with us today, 1150 years after Constantine and Methodius came to Moravia. JaM The anthology of the 100 best Czech poems of 2012 was introduced to Book World visitors by its editor Simona Martínková-racková, along with the authors Kateřina rudčenková, jakub Řehák and viktor Špaček. The idea of publishing annual “best poet­ ry” selections originated with the American poet and critic David Lehman in 1988. The success of The Best American Poetry series, along with the fact that similar anthologies are today published in many countries around the world, shows that despite all proclamations of poetry’s crisis and lack of interested readers, there still exist not only good poems, but also many good readers. In 2009 the successful yearbook campaign was joined by the Czech publishing house Host. “The anthology should not force the idea of objectivity, quite the contrary. Its aim is to introduce its editor’s subjective take on po­ etry published in the given year and on po­ etry in general,” Martin Stöhr from Host ex­ plains. For the first time this year the editor was a woman, the literary reviewer and po­ etess Simona Martínková­Racková, who was selecting from poems published in the past year for the first time and authored by poets writing in the Czech language. She divided the book into six parts. Part one, entitled De­ cent people sleep through devastation, is introduced by Jakub Řehák’s text A Bid to Go. “This poem has probably had the great­ est impact on me, which is why it opens the entire collection,” explained the editor, in­ viting the author to read some of his texts to the audience. While most authors are repre­ sented in the anthology with a single text, the young poetess Kateřina Rudčenková is the author of three. “This is my private tri­ bute. When I first took up contemporary Czech poetry about twelve years ago, it was her verse that captivated me the most. She was my intiator into the world of poetry,” compliments the editor. “Thank you for this appraisal. I am very happy to be included in this anthology, since it provides me with some very good company indeed,” said Kateřina Rudčenková, returning the compli­ ment. She then read her poems from the an­ thology out loud and the audience reacted with a long applause. “I wish this anthology all the best,” concluded Host publishers’ Martin Stöhr and we can only subscribe to this. JaM Proglas – still with Us, still Full of Inspiration Best Poetry selection Made

On Friday afternoon the book fair played host to one of the most authentic poets on the planet – Kerry Shawn Keys, originally hail­ ing from the United States, but spending a large part of his life in India and Brazil. In Rio de Janeiro he focused on studying afro­ brazilian literature, which has no doubt im­ pacted on his writing. Since 1996 he lives in Vilnius with his family. He fell in love with the Baltic environment and today counts among Lithuania’s foremost writers. In the course of his eventful life he has so far written over forty books. While most of his works are po­ etry books, he also authors children’s litera­ ture and theatre plays. The 66­year old writer considers himself to be above all the poet of nature. “Nature is cruel and savage, but at the same time it is very beautiful,” says the globetrotter. Many of his poems deal with the environment and its inhabitants. Keys also actively meditates and meditation helps him find inspiration for his writing. Book World visitors could hear his English­ language texts from the recently published collection Night Flight as well as some older works. Stephan Delbos acted as both the event’s moderator and translator of the texts. Together with his students he had translated several of Keys’ poems into Czech, letting the audience enjoy some of the poet’s work in their mother tongue. Keys himself also often translates, usually from Lithuanian to English. According to his own words, however, he ne­ ver translates his own works and leaves this task to other authors. Kerry Shaw Keys is a frequent guest in the Czech Republic, dividing his sympathies main­ ly between Prague and Olomouc. In the course of this year’s visit he has read his works, among other, in the American Centre and in Brno’s Moravian Land Library. OnŠ Book World visitors were treated to a meet­ ing with three authors of Romany poetry, who were very much different from one an­ other. These differences were not only in terms of age or topics they address, but espe­ cially in terms of linguistic differences. While the oldest of the three, the fifty­three years old jan Horváth writes in Romany, his gener­ ation­younger colleague, the twenty­eight years old renata Berkyová, writes in Slovak and one year older Martin Oláh, son of the well­known Romany poet Vlado Oláh, uses the Czech language. “At home we would speak Romany, especially my dad, but also Czech and Slovak. I can speak Romany, but I only resort to it when I want to express something intrinsically connected with the Romany people – then I feel that I can express myself better in Romany. But I consider Czech to be my mother tongue, I have a larger Czech vocabulary, which is why I write in Czech,” Martin Oláh explained, whose family’s poetic heritage only caught up with him after he had studied classical singing and composition and worked as a hairdresser and image pro­ fessional. “At home poems were omnipres­ ent. I didn’t have to think about it, I simply started writing. My inspiration are normal things from everyday life,” says Oláh about his poems, soon to be published in book form. Jan Horváth, on the other hand, writes his po­ ems in Romany and translates them for Czech audiences. “First I write the poems in Romany and then I try to to translate them into Czech. Romany is the language of my feelings, which is why I also find it easier to write in it. The topics I address are usually Romany issues, which is yet another reason why the Romany language suits them better.” Jan Horváth is a Romany activist, member of the Czech Writ­ ers’ Association, and has also been active in politics. This is also why his poems treat the everyday living of the Romanies, which he has seen from many different perspectives. “I am one of those people who don’t think that the ‘white’ people should be blamed for all the Romany trouble – I also see serious shortcom­ ings on our side. All this gets naturally reflec­ ted in my poems,” Horváth added. Renata Berkyová, focusing mostly on lyric love poetry, writes in Slovak. “Since my childhood I had always spoken Slovak, I couldn’t speak Roma­ ny and felt ashamed because of that. It hap­ pened to me many times that Romanies would approach me on the street asking me something in Romany, and I couldn’t answer. I felt the obligation to learn the language of my ancestors and later I did. But even though I don’t consider Romany a foreign language, I still find it easier to write in Slovak.” All three authors than reminisced on Mile­ na Hybšmanová, an outstanding personality responsible for the emergence of a codified version of the Romany language, establishing a Romany studies department at the Charles University and authoring numerous publica­ tions on the Romany people and their lan­ guage. Jan Horváth has even paid a tribute to her in one of his poems. “For many Romanies Milena was the driving force, the light shining on the path through a misapprehending world. She was an inspiration to us all.” The meeting with Romany authors has shown not only that Romany poetry is alive, but also that it has authors as well as readers, recruiting not only from the Romany community. JaM thousands Attracted by Old Prints Following last year’s successful presentation of old and rare books and other articles at the book fair, antiquarians decided to take part in Book World again this year. They prepared an interesting presentation, which proved very popular with Book World visitors, who were drawn both to the exhibition entitled Children’s Books in the Course of the Last Century, and by antiquarian items such as books, postcards, film and advertising posters, old prints, maps and vinyl records. The joint project was entitled Long Mile, drawing inspiration from a similar event held at the Leipzig book fair, and the antiquarians located their offer in one place with a single cash register. “This event is just the beginning for us,” the project’s coordinator Jan Němec said. “We are setting up a civic association, whose mission will be cultural, exhibition and publishing activities. It is important for us to preserve and present our nation’s beautiful books.” JaCh shapes of romany Poetry Kerry shawn Keys Nature’s Poet romany along with Czech and Slovak could be heard on Sunday morning during a meeting with romany poets entitled adaj o roma! romanies Here! THiS year’S BOOK WOrlD iS CerTainly nOT laCKinG in DiSTinGuiSHeD GueSTS FrOM aBrOaD.

Far away in the Spitsbergen cold lies the little town of Pyramid. it used to be Soviet socialism’s pride, but know stands as a sad reminder of a failed ideal. This world-forsaken place stands in the centre of the norwegian writer KjarTan FløGSTaD’S essay-travelogue entitled Pyramid. In 1925 several countries, including Czecho­ slovakia, signed an international treaty on the use of the Spitsbergen mineral wealth, while at the same time Norway’s sovereignty over the territory was acknowledged. Five years later the Norwegians declared their symbolic administration of the islands. This did not stop the Russians from establishing two settlements there, which had ever since peaceful coexisted with their Norwegian neighbours – even in the days of the Cold War. There was no barbed wire, no “east­ west” enmity. Almost as though political de­ cisions made by the rest of the feuding world found no ground here. “There were no fences, all people lived next to one an­ other in peace,” says Kjartan Fløgstad, who has dedicated an entire namesake book to one of these Russian settlements, called Pyr­ amid. “Pyramid was kind of a showcase of Soviet socialism and the living conditions there were better than in the rest of the country,” Kjartan explains. “It used to be a rich mining town, but today its former glo­ ry is all but forgotten.” “In 1997, the time of the ruble crisis, peo­ ple deserted it in such a hurry, that there were cups with coffee left on tables, water in swimming pools, films in cinemas. Every­ thing remained as it were. It’s like some kind of a social Pompeii,” Kjartan adds. The book’s translator Hana Kendíková praised not only the richness of the story, but also that of the text itself. “Translating such an interesting text is a joy. The only hard time I had was with some of the technical mining terms. Luckily I come from the mining town of Ostrava, so I only had to ask around and had all the mining terminology willingly ex­ plained to me,” she smiles. As a translator she also appreciated the fact that the author collaborated on the translation. “Whenever I was really getting lost, especially in the epi­ logue, full of Norwegian magic realism, I sometimes aksed Kjartan for advice, and every time he would promptly reply.” “I also translate, so I find it natural that a translator turns to me for help. I do it myself. I know that no translation will ever be the same as the original, but every translator strives to come as close to it as possible. If I can be of help to him or her in this effort, I would be against myself if I didn’t do it,” the author added. Today, then, the town of Pyramid is empty and was only given another lease of life in the book. If someone doubts its exist­ ence, it can still be visited, standing deserted in the Spitsbergen cold, doubling as a sad display of socialism’s tarnished hopes. JaM Is every word that is “published” electroni­ cally of lesser value than a word printed on paper, meticulously drawn or set in stone or on clay tablets, destined to remain with us for ages to come? And is there anyone who can really judge this? The answer to these questions – as well as to many other – will probably only be availa­ ble to the future generations, and I am not sure if they will be so interested. The opportu­ nity to give literature electronic guise – both “great” literature and the “entertaining” one, but often highly readable and up­to­ date – means that few people today are inter­ ested in the distinction between good and bad writing. On top of that, it is virtually im­ possible to censor blog literature or to curb its distribution. Good example of this are coun­ tries like Iran or China and their efforts to pre­ vent their populace from opening Google or youtube. As I found out, in countries such as Malaisia, newspapers printed on paper are rarely read at all (with the exception of the pro­government and pro­Muslim ones). To read and write, the locals use international servers, which the state cannot censor. Just like many others I was also fascinated by the blogosphere’s direct and simple ap­ peal. The speed with which a normal person without any special skills can “publish” a text he or she had just written and “distribute” it directly to tens or perhaps hundreds of thou­ sands of readers cannot be matched. If one wanted to address (potentially) even greater audiences, one would have to use television or radio, which is something that usually exceeds our possibilities. The blogosphere saves trees and supports democracy. Everyone – and I mean everyone – can electronically comment whatever they see fit, spread information or fallacies, swear or praise. In the same democratic spirit the readers can then choose to either read this or not (perhaps adding comments, critique or re­ ommending it to others). The blogosphere enhances globalisation – but almost exclusive­ ly that aspect of it, which is marked by open access to information. The blogosphere is a decentralisation tool – you can write or read blogs anywhere, as long as you have access to the internet. And perhaps most importantly, it helps people with similar outlooks to find one another and create electronic communi­ ties, irrespective of what age they are, what they look like and where they live. Even though I still very much like words printed on paper, my view of the blogosphere is becom­ ing increasingly positive. Iva Pekárková A Blog on Blogs and Blogging socialism’s Faded showcase is it good to write blogs? and what about reading them? is the blogosphere bad be- cause it represents ever-increasing competition for the “old, good and honest” print- ed word? Or is it a medicine – blogs which we read from computer screens mean sav- ing trees and fuel used for the physical distribution of the printed word around the world. Audiobook Wherever You look The audiobook phenomenon is gaining ever­increasing popularity among Czech readers every year. Today’s fast­paced times welcome the possibility to read anytime and anywhere – on the road, during work – and to read with our ears. On Friday after­ noon this topic was addressed by Břetislav Hanzel, Audioteka.cz executive director. The company appeared on the Czech mar­ ket on October 2011 and its current offer includes some 1,500 titles. It boasts 46 thou­ sand registered customers and collaborates with over fifty publishers, while at the same time also publishing or co­publishing audio­ books. The most successful recent titles include Steve Jobs’ autobiography, second part of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy or Michal Viewegh’s Mafia in Prague. The big­ gest segment of customers are middle­aged men and their favourite genre is crime no­ vels. Audiobooks can be listened to using your computer, smart phone, or tablet, and Audioteka.cz plans to expand its offer to smart TVs. Negotiations with car manufac­ turer on including an audio library applica­ tion in the computers of new cars also seem promising. This would enable the users to listen to audiobooks practically anywhere without the need to carry the actual audio­ book with you – you just connect to what­ ever device is at hand and a bookmark tool enables you to listen from the very page where you stopped reading. IK

PHySiCal POeT PeTr váŠa WaS HOSTeD a BOOK WOrlD SlaM POeTry DiSPlay. What is the relationship between your physical poetry and current slam poetry? Unconstricting and friendly. Would it be fair to call you our very first slammer? Some people say it, but I am not sure if they mean it in a flattering way or if it is an at­ tempt to give me some kind of label, which is something I had already tried to avoid long time ago by coining the term physical poetry, i.e. by giving myself a label which would label no one else. Do you find inspiration in slam? if so, how? It rests in the courage and charm of some of the slammers rather than in the technique as such. Do you ever watch slam poetry from the audience? I did it once as an accidental passer­by, and I must say I was positively surprised. Do you have a personal favourite among slang poets? Orpheus of Thrace, 6th century BC. Slam poetry is an international disci- pline with some specifically Czech fea- tures. What about physical poetry? Whose patent is that? No one besides me has so far claimed it. Do you have any followers in the field of physical poetry? I hear people say sometimes that they find inspiration in my work and that they use a cer­ tain element of it... But you could also say that when one embodies something which sets him apart from the rest, and does this in as com­ prehensible and committed way as possible withou any bad intentions, such a person is cre­ ating “physical poetry”. In this respect I have not only followers, but also contemporaries and numerous predecessors. Lucie Němečková anaSOFT liTera is the name of Slovakia’s lead­ ing literary prize for prose. Book World visitors learned more about its history and winners on Thurs­ day in the Large Theatre. The event was attended by the award’s 2007 winner MareK vaDaS. “This is a prestigious prize, which provides writers with media attention and lets people get to know them better,” he summed up the significance of the award. His own books, however, don’t have to look for readers, as they stand apart from the rest of the Slovak production. Their inspiration comes from Africa, a continent the author had first visited several years ago on a short business trip and has been returning ever since. He lets himself be drawn to the fascinating world of the shamans, healers and voices of the forest. Fittingly, his Anasoft litera was awarded for a book entitled Léčitel (The Healer). JaM Meet the Winners slam Is spontaneity and Verbal Adventure Musician, artist and journalist eva TurnOvá presented book version of her magazine columns to Book World visitors, published in the course of last year by the instinkt magazine. A bass­guitar player with The Plastic Peo­ ple of the Universe, Eva Turnová is a house­ hold name within the Czech underground community. But up till now few people may have known that she is also the author of very apt magazine columns, into which she projects her everyday experiences and dis­ cusses topics that interest her. “Sometimes I write almost chronologically about what has happened to me on a given day, at oth­ er times I focus on some meeting, object, event,” she says, adding that she likes read­ ing her readers’ reactions. “They give the article a follow­up, another dimension.” In her texts the author treats words and their meanings playfully, looking at the world with ease and a gently detached perspec­ tive. For example her description of ac­ quainting herself with Facebook, along with a commentary on her discussion with her daughter concerning house chores, earned her the listeners’ applause. The reading of the pieces was accompanied by Eva Turnová’s songs, putting to music poems by Vratislav Brabenec, Ivan Martin Jirous and Jiří Kolář. It was a pleasant and playful encounter. I wonder if Eva will ever write an article about it. JaM extrAOrdINArY ArtICles ON OrdINArY lIVINg Open-Air Concert Poets in Music

Vydal: Svět knihy, s.r.o. v Nakladatelství Jalna | redakce: Jana Chalupová, Ilja Kučera, Jana Marxtová, Radek Šofr, Ondřej Šofr | technická redakce: Jiří Sládeček | překlad: Lukáš Houdek | grafický návrh a sazba: Jiří Sládeček ml. | Foto: Jakub Sládeček, Martin Šust | uzávěrka 19. 5. 2013. • Published by Book World, Ltd. in Jalna publishers | Editorial staff: Jana Chalupová, Ilja Kučera, Jana Marxtová, Radek Šofr, Ondřej Šofr | technical editing: Jiří Sládeček | Translation: Lukáš Houdek | Graphic design a typesetting: Jiří Sládeček ml. | Photo: Jakub Sládeček, Martin Šust | Deadline 19. 5. 2013 | Next year’s guest of honour will be Hungary liTerary FeSTival participants 701 total programmes 494 total exhibitions 30 film screenings 17 theatre performances 27 Fair exhibitors 339 stands 192 surface area 2,984 m² professional visitors registered 750 numer of accredited journalists 374 number of visitors 36 000 Participating exhibitors and foreign guests are from 30 countries and regions. exhibiting countries and regions (24) Austria, Belgium / Wallonia­Brussels, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States of America Guests at the literary Festival (23) Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Macedonia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Syria, United Kingdom, United States of America statistics for Book World Prague 2013