May 15, 2011, By: Lucie Kettnerová; section: i-Forum informs, Translation: Pavla Horáková

On May 12 – 15, the Industrial Palace at Prague’s Výstaviště exhibition grounds hosted the 17^th International Book Fair and Literary Festival Bookworld Prague 2011. The Karolinum publishing house again welcomed visitors at its stand, visible from afar, in the corner of the right wing of the Industrial Palace. This year’s festival partner, the Institute of Near Eastern and African Studies of the Charles University Faculty of Arts, helped prepare and co-chaired a number of events dedicated to the literature of the Arab world, with Saudi Arabia being this year’s guest of honour.

The Saudi Ministry of Higher Education was responsible for the country’s exposition as this year’s guest of honour at Bookworld Prague and was in charge of the Saudi participation including all the accompanying events. A number of employees and students of the Institute of Near Eastern and African Studies, a leading Czech institution offering a comprehensive course of studies of the Middle East, were involved in various parts of the programme presenting Arab literature in a broader context. The joint discussions at the book fair addressed issues such as the Islamic civilisation, Oriental studies and the development of literary movements in Saudi Arabia and the Czech Republic.

The Karolinum publishing house displayed its varied production including the very latest books. A number of authors came to promote their books at discussions and book signings on Friday and Saturday. On Friday afternoon, the authors Jan Kuklík and Jan Němeček presented their book Osvobozené Československo (Liberated Czechoslovakia). Petr Charvát signed his new book Zrození státu (The birth of the state) and Jan Royt, a medievalist specialising in the history of art in the Czech lands and expert on Christian iconography, presented a second edition of his publication Obraz a kult v Čechách 17. a 18. století (Image and Cult in 17^th and 18^th-century Bohemia). On Saturday, the reading public were able to meet Martina Šmejkalová, the author of Čeština a škola (The Czech language and school).

The Charles University Faculty of Arts had its exhibition space in the right wing of the palace along with other university publishers. Among other titles, it presented the brand new collective effort Heslář české avantgardy (A glossary of the Czech avant-garde) which aims to revive certain fundamental concepts introduced by the Czech artistic avant-garde in literature and the visual arts. Also, new items from the Fontes and Trivium book series were available at discount prices.

The literary festival in statistics