The organizers of the Lviv BookForum have announced who will be the guests of the future forum.
The program includes: 20 discussions, five public interviews with Ukrainian and foreign intellectuals, an opening ceremony, and four partner events.
Among the festival participants:
- Booker Prize winner Salman Rushdie (United Kingdom);
- economist and writer James Alan Robinson (United Kingdom);
- writers Sofi Oksanen (Finland), Georgi Gospodinov (Bulgaria) and Miroslav Shkandrij (Canada);
- poet Krzysztof Chizhevsky (Poland);
- philosopher and literary scholar Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (USA).
The writer Salman Rushdie received the German Book Writers’ Peace Prize in 2023. On the last day of the Frankfurt Book Fair, the award ceremony took place, where he gave a speech in which he also mentioned Ukraine. The author is convinced that everyone strives not only for the “big” peace at the end of the war, but also for peace in the personal life of each person. Rushdie emphasized that peace is a great value that should be passionately pursued.
Peace for Ukraine means more than an end to hostilities. It means, as it should mean, the restoration of the captured territory and a guarantee of its sovereignty. Peace for Ukraine’s enemy means Ukraine’s capitulation and the recognition that the lost territories are lost. The same word with two incompatible definitions, the writer believes.
Rushdie was born in 1947 in Bombay (now Mumbai, India). His book The Satanic Verses has been banned in Iran since 1988 because many Muslims see it as an insult to religion.
A year after its publication, Iran’s then-leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie’s death, and a reward of nearly $3 million was offered for Rushdie’s killer.
In 2007, the poet was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to literature. In July 2008, he won the Booker Prize for his novel Midnight’s Children.
On August 12, 2022, Salman Rushdie was attacked on stage in New York City and stabbed in the chest. He spent six months in hospital and lost the sight in one eye and the use of one arm.
The writer’s attacker turned out to be 24-year-old Hadi Matar. He was immediately detained and on August 13, he was charged in Chautauqua County Court in Mayville, New York. Matar pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder and assault on Rushdie.
The focal theme of the festival in Lviv is “The Power of Community”. According to the organizers, it will help to discuss topics that influence global democratic processes in the historical and current experience of Ukrainians: postcolonialism in Ukraine and the world, the power of public activism and youth, national memory and international conflicts.
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.