Sunday 20th of May | 5 p.m. | Iluzjon
Meeting with writers: Jacek Hugo-Bader and Paulina Wilk
after the screening of “Lyubov – Love in Russian” by Staffan Julén
In Polish only
Partner: Big Book Festival
Reporters are usually interested in calamities – they come to ask difficult questions about painful and controversial subjects. But how does one ask about love and all the best things in life? Svetlana Alexyevich, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, turns conversation into an art-form. She created her own literary genre – a polyphonic story of voices. How does her talent for activating sincerity work? How can one open up hearts in a post-soviet world?
The meeting will include:
Jacek Hugo-Bader – one of the most important Polish reporters. He loves Russia and old Soviet bloc countries. While riding a bicycle he has conquered Central Asia, the Gobi Desert and Tibet. He crossed the Baikal Lake on a kayak. He went on a lonely journey across Russia in a car from Moscow to Vladivostok. He published Russian centric bestsellers such as “White Fever”, “Kolyma Diaries: A Journey into Russia’s Haunted Hinterland”, as well as “In the Paradise Valley Among the Weeds”. His new book “Audit” will be released in May.
Paulina Wilk – writer and journalist, she has released books such as “Dolls on Fire. (Stories from India)” and “The Day After Tomorrow. On the Cities of the Future”, she works for “Przekrój Quarterly”. A co-organizer of Big Book Festival – an international festival of reading, at which Svetlana Alexyevich was a guest. She reviewed books by the Belarussian Noble Prize Winner and conducted many interviews with her.
