Literature in the Streets

The Student Council of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Maribor and the Maribor Slavic Association in collaboration with the Maribor Theatre Festival

In terms of its time scope and content, the third edition of the project Literature in the Streets brings about the most focused programme so far. The six-day programme will be presented in the Slovenian partner cities of the European Capital of Culture over a period of two-weeks. The days chosen for the events are Monday (15 and 22 October), Wednesday (17 and 24 October) and Friday (19 and 26 October).

This year’s central thematic line is youth literature which subsequently addresses the younger literary audience. Six days of events comprise presentations of six authors selected with the help of Prof. Dragica Haramija, Ph.D, one of the most prominent experts in the field of youth literature. Some of the authors who will be presented in this year’s project are included in school reading programmes and reader’s badges; their influence in shaping Slovenian youth literature is increasingly on the rise.

The educational aspect of the project remains as important as it has been in previous years. In fact, it is even more intensively present this year as we intend to offer schools an excursion to Literature in the Streets as an alternative to Slovenian language classes. Our wish is to attract the collaboration of elementary school pupils who will read their own short stories at chosen locations in the city.

This year we have chosen frequented city spots for communicating with the audience and have invited Simona Kopinšek, an artist involved with literature in many ways, to join us in organising the project.

Following the conclusion of the project, the students of Slovenian language at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Maribor and members of the student section of Maribor Slavic Association will make a publication which will provide a multi-facetted presentation of the upcoming authors, both bibliographically and through recording their more intimate thoughts on creating. Short stories by children will also be published, thus paving the way for their love of literature and stimulating their identification with Literature in the Streets already at an early age.

The motto of this year’s project is "If I read when I’m young,
literature will always be fun.”

Marko Lük