Charles University Hard to Miss at the Book World Fair

17 May 2010

As usually, the 16^th annual trade fair and literary festival Book World Prague 2010 featured Charles University. The Karolinum publishing house and the Faculty of Arts presented their publishing efforts in the university publishing section. The Roma studies seminar, a part of the Institute of South and Central Asia of the Faculty of Arts, had its own stand, taking part in the Year for the Rapprochement of Culture programme.

Visitors could flip through the pages of 34 foreign exhibitors from all over the world, including traditional European guests (France, Hungary, Germany, Spain etc.), as well as some more exotic markets, such as Wales, Taiwan or Saudi Arabia, which will be the honorary guest of the next installment. This year, this role was reserved for Poland, which offered the view of the current Polish literary scene under the title “Have We Read Poland?”.

The seminar of Roma studies was represented in the foreign books section, allowing a view at the Roma culture. As 2010 is the UNESCO's Year for the Rapprochement of Culture, the book fair introduced ethnic minorities living in the Czech Republic. Among other events, a discussion with Roma authors took place in the Literary Hall, moderated by Mr. Jan Červenka, the director of the Seminar of Roma studies.

The Faculty of Arts presented its publishing output in the right wing of the palace, in the university publishing stand. It introduced new titles such as “Frederick V, Elector Palatine As Seen In Contemporary Pamphlets” by Jana Hubková and “In Pursuit of Harmony. Studies in Chinese Culture” by Olga Lomová and Zlata Černá. In addition to that, visitors could buy new publications from the Fontes and Trivium editions and new issues of journals published by the faculty, all for reduced prices.

The red stand of the Karolinum publishing house was impossible to miss. It attracted great interest, partially because of the signings that took place. On Friday, visitors could meet the three authors of the “History of Czech Everyday Life”, along with Kateřina Charvátová, who wrote the “History of Cistercians in Bohemia”, and Petr Wittlich, the author of “The Horizons of Art”. On Saturday, František Koukolík introduced his new book “Obsessed by Power”, which reflects on the biological and psychological nature of power.

Literary festival in numbers
writers featured	438
number of events	391
number of exhibitions	21
Trade fair in numbers
exhibitors feature	414
number of stands	194
total area	2 930 m²
registered professional participants	642

(Lucie Kettnerová)

Translation: Jaroslav Švelch