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The rapid rise of temperatures in the spring is conducive not only to walks and cleaning out our wardrobes. It’s also a sure fire sign of the start of the literary season!
On the 23rd and 24th of April, join us for the celebration of World Book and Copyright Day and the 15th edition of the “Book and Rose” Małopolskie Book Days. The idea for the campaign comes from Spain, from where it was brought to our region in 2002 on the initiative of the Marshal of the Małopolskie Voivodeship. Since 1930, Book Day has been an official holiday in the land of Cervantes, and the streets of many Spanish cities, including Barcelona, transform into big open-air book markets. This year, the Krakow Festival Office – the coordinator of the Krakow UNESCO City of Literature programme – has joined the organisers of the “Book and Rose” campaign and, along with the Office of the Marshal of the Małopolskie Voivodeship and the Voivodeship Public Library in Krakow, has planned a series of weekend activities.
The Cozy Used Book Fair will take place on Saturday and Sunday in Krakow’s St Mary Magdalene Square. Classics of world literature, historical fiction and popular science books, comics and English-language literature at affordable prices will be presented by booksellers and antique book dealers, including the historical bookstore Szafa Pełna Książek, FanKomiks, Massolit Books, the antique bookshop 9wrota and Abecadło. The Voivodeship Public Library in Krakow stand will offer inexpensive books withdrawn from the collection. The Fair will also feature florists’ stands with roses; there will be somewhere to drink coffee, eat ice cream and snack on roasted chestnuts, or you can drop by the nearby Księgarnia Bona for some delicious madeleines – the most literary biscuits in the world. Every book purchased at the fair will also include a temporary rose tattoo as a gift!
World Book Day also includes intensive event programmes in bookstores and libraries. Join us for an evening that starts off the Independent Bookstore Festival at De Revolutionibus, which will include workshops for children and adults, a lecture by Prof. Jerzy Stelmach, as well as an inaugural meeting of the Discussion Reading Clubs of the Poemat Foundation at the Bona bookstore. On the weekend of the 23rd and 24th April, the “Medal-winning Krakow bookstores” (Krakowskie księgarnie na medal) project of the City of Literature Foundation will also be inaugurated. As part of the inauguration, known and liked people will take their place behind the counters at selected bookstores for a few hours, recommending their favourite books and helping customers to choose the most interesting ones.
The Voivodeship Public Library in Krakow invites you to Rajska Street for a meeting with Anna Dziewit-Meller, the literary urban game “In search of the legend of the dragon”, as well as workshops for children titled “Is Star Wars just a film?” The library will also be the site of the special edition of the Second Life of a Book exchange. Krakow’s Planty Park will see two bicycles of the Flying Reading Room to meet with readers. On that special weekend, everyone who borrows a book from one of the bicycles will receive a temporary rose tattoo as a gift. We also invite you to join the Shakespeare stage workshops with Krzysztof Stawowy (World Book Day coincides with the 400th anniversaries of the English playwright’s Miguel de Cervantes’ deaths).
The “Book and Rose” campaign serves as a reminder that books can be an interesting idea for a present. Events planned as part of the campaign, including the fair in St Mary Magdalene’s Square, highlight the rich tradition of the second life of a book in Krakow and Małopolska – the cradle of the Polish language and printing, a place of a particular concentration of the publishing sector and the most prestigious antique auctions, which are all part of the Krakow – UNESCO City of Literature programme, which aims to protect and support the various branches of the local book market. It is in antique shops and city fairs where we can come across valuable literature, frequently not republished in the Polish book market, which is oriented on new books.
Stressing the role of the book as a special gift, on Friday morning, people arriving to Małopolska on the Kraków-Balice route of the Koleje Małopolskie railway line will receive book gifts. The action will be the announcement of the weekend events in Małopolska.
A DETAILED PROGRAMME OF THE CAMPAIGN CAN BE FOUND HERE AND AT WWW.KSIAZKAIROZA.PL.
See you there!
Organisers:
Małopolskie Voivodeship, Voivodeship Public Library in Krakow – a Cultural Institution of the Małopolskie Voivodeship, Krakow Festival Office – Operator of the Krakow – UNESCO City of Literature Programme
Partners:
The Book Institute, Polish Chamber of Booksellers, Karnet, Lubimy Czytać, O.pl, Shakespeare Lives, Cervantes Institute, Copernicus Center Foundation, Poemat Foundation, City of Literature Foundation