The evening’s selector Dr. Melita Koletnik and discussant Dr. Oliver Currie will discuss how contemporary Slovene prose is being read in English. They will examine the translations of Olivia Hellewell, who transferred the works of two of our authors to the English book space: Goran Vojnović and Ana Svetel.
The short stories entitled Take six: six Balkan women writers (Sawtry : Dedalus, 2023) from Dobra družba: zgodbe o prevozih, LUD Literatura, 2019) and the novel The Fig Tree (London : Istros, 2020) (Figa, Beletrina, 2016), which also received the Kresnik Award in 2017, will be discussed.
The Fig Tree is a novel of intertwining stories about Jadran, who tries to unravel the connections with loved ones to better understand his own life. In doing so, he faces many more and less metaphorical departures, and with them the emotions of expectation, anger, fear, hope and disappointment. When he finally completes the story, he realizes that the past does not absolve us of responsibility for the future.
The recording of the evening, which will be held in English, will be subtitled in Slovenian and published on the Festival Pranger YouTube channel.
The festival is part of the reading culture program co-financed by the Slovenian Book Agency.
