V4 Books on Display Exhibition

The V4 Books on Display exhibition aims to foster the book culture across V4, by introducing the literary works of the region to both professional and wide public (potential readers). During the 4 day festival there will be a constant exhibit of the selected V4 authors’ books and their already existing translations in several languages of V4 and English that will be available to wide public to take a look at, as well as buy on spot (limited no. of copies). The exhibition will be installed at one of the festival venues, at PIM Museum in the city centre. Moreover, similarly to last year’s edition, there will be a special V4 Festival Library, operating throughout the festival, with many books that could be borrowed, and read at PIM club free of charge. It was very popular with festival audience at the 1st PesText Festival, and hence, we intend to make a bigger library this year. The temporary library will contain books of the guest V4 authors of the festival, as well as books of other contemporary authors from around V4 region. www.pestextfestival.hu

V4 Feel the City

The program is aimed at getting a personal, hands-on sense of the capital of Hungary, from a new perspective, by a thematic interactive walk through its chosen streets and spaces, lead by a drama pedagogist (Viola Kallós). There will be an organized city tour for the V4 literary residents (authors, poets, translators) and international festival guests. They will get a present, personal, spatial reflection of both the capital, as they had never seen it before and the people and culture of a foreign city. A city that might seem foreign to them, though it is resonating a lot from our common historical and cultural past, as the places we chose to visit reflect the common V4 history and cultural heritage, so this way the V4 partners can encounter also their own culture or a piece of their own history in a foreign city, through listening, hearing and touching, tasting the chosen city sites. The members of the 3 V4 theatre partners (Masakr Elsinor (CZ), Divadlo Poton (SK), Teatr Jednego Wiersza (PL) will create short performative etudes, to be shown at chosen spots and sites of the city, with the topic reflecting to common history as well as the main theme of the festival: 'Encounters, collisions, dystopias.' The “street presence” helps promote the project’s main objectives and mission, as well as the PesText V4 festival across the whole capital. Feel the City, together with Urban Poetry project (public readings of contemporary V4 poetry on chosen sights of Budapest), were among highly successful events of the Off Program of the last year’s festival. www.pestextfestival.hu

Presentation of 2nd Edition of the Poket Book Program

The aim of Poket Book initiative is to bring valuable and interesting literary works closer to readers for affordable prices, in an easily accessible way. Pocket—as a cultural mission—is to be able to create a more youthful and attentive reading community. The project was first launched with six pocketbooks automats placed across Budapest in 2018. Poket books wants to popularize contemporary and traditional literature in the form of sound quality but cheap pocketbooks the size of a smartphone. The primary target group is the youth and anyone using the public transportation network. The project is called Poket and is supported by outstanding Hungarian artists, such as László Dés, Péter Geszti, Viktória Lábas, Péter Rudolf and Gábor Zacher, Adél Kováts. They are also the ambassadors of the initiation. In 2020 we chose another famous contemporary Polish author, namely Mr. Andrzej Stasijuk, who is one of the most successful and internationally acclaimed contemporary Polish writers, journalists and literary critics. He is best known for his travel literature and essays that describe the reality of Eastern Europe and its relationship with the West, as well as his records of the changes affecting urban Polish society after the collapse of communism. Together with Wacław Felczak Foundation, we plan to publish the next pocketbook with Andrzej Stasijuk in title, connected with a public reading event and a debate with the participation of the author himself, as part of festival program. www.pestextfestival.hu