Slovenian Book Market in Times of Pandemic
On 31st May Slovenia officially declared the end of the covid-19 epidemic on its territory as one of the least affected countries in the world in health terms and as one of the first countries to do so.
However, the Slovenian book sector was hit hard by the epidemic – with book sales dropping by almost 90% in March and April and with regular government funding halted many publishers and bookshops were facing hardship.
The Slovenian Book Agency thus quickly launched a #homereading campaign during lockdown, with reading recommendations by writers, illustrators, translators and others from the branch, published in Slovenian media. We organised a digital book fair called “Couch Book Fair” together with Ljubljana, Unesco City of Literature, on 23rd April, the World Book Day, and launched a promotional campaign upon reopening of the bookshops on 4th May together with more than 80 bookshops around Slovenia, media, bloggers and many more. We hope that the Slovenian book sector will be able to recover also with the help of our activities.
In Mach and April we stayed at home and we acted at home, but now it is finally time to look across borders again and here we are happy to share some good news with you:
- We are opening three new calls for proposals for international publishers,
- We are extending our mobility grant for authors, translators and agents to travel abroad and
- Yes, we are going to Frankfurt this year and we are looking forward to it! Please visit us in Hall 4.0., where the Slovenian national stand will be visibly placed.
We hope you are well too and that we will be able to meet in person soon. Until then, here are some of our most important international news:
Slovenian Book Market in Times of Pandemic
On 31st May Slovenia officially declared the end of the covid-19 epidemic on its territory as one of the least affected countries in the world in health terms and as one of the first countries to do so.
However, the Slovenian book sector was hit hard by the epidemic – with book sales dropping by almost 90% in March and April and with regular government funding halted many publishers and bookshops were facing hardship.
The Slovenian Book Agency thus quickly launched a #homereading campaign during lockdown, with reading recommendations by writers, illustrators, translators and others from the branch, published in Slovenian media. We organised a digital book fair called “Couch Book Fair” together with Ljubljana, Unesco City of Literature, on 23rd April, the World Book Day, and launched a promotional campaign upon reopening of the bookshops on 4th May together with more than 80 bookshops around Slovenia, media, bloggers and many more. We hope that the Slovenian book sector will be able to recover also with the help of our activities.
In Mach and April we stayed at home and we acted at home, but now it is finally time to look across borders again and here we are happy to share some good news with you:
- We are opening three new calls for proposals for international publishers,
- We are extending our mobility grant for authors, translators and agents to travel abroad and
- Yes, we are going to Frankfurt this year and we are looking forward to it! Please visit us in Hall 4.0., where the Slovenian national stand will be visibly placed.
We hope you are well too and that we will be able to meet in person soon. Until then, here are some of our most important international news:
Support for foreign publishers – three public calls issued on 19th June
On 19 June we published three public calls:
- Call for Proposals for the translation and publication of books by Slovenian authors in the German language for the year 2020 (deadline: 20 July 2020);
- Call for proposals for translations into foreign languages for the year 2020 (deadline: 27 July 2020),
- Call for support of printing costs – NEW! (deadline: 27 July 2020)
All applicants for all tenders and calls have to be legal entities (publisher) based outside Slovenia.
For all additional information please contact:
Translations into foreign languages and subsidy for printing costs: Katja Stergar, e-mail: slovenian.agency(at)gmail.com.
Publications of Slovenian literature in German language: Anja Kovač, e-mail: anja.kovac(at)jakrs.si.
Slovenian Literature in Translation – What’s New?
If you thought the rights market for Slovenian books stopped during the pandemics, think again! This spring we welcomed many new deals and published books in no less than ten languages: from the upcoming Chinese edition of the Slovenian classic and a global bestseller Alamut by Vladimir Bartol to Marta Bartolj’s wordless picture book planned at Chronicle Books in US under the title One Small Kindness. Meanwhile, German-speaking readers can newly read no less that two books about the first female solo traveller Alma M Karlin, who travelled the world in 1920's, Italian readers welcomed the cult Slovenian alpine classic Pot by Nejc Zaplotnik, the first Slovenian to climb Mount Everest in 1979, and much more.
Read the full list of Slovenian novelties in other languages here.
Highlight of the Month: Plan B - How Not to Lose Hope in the Time of Crisis by Boštjan Videmšek
After Boštjan Videmšek, an award-winning crisis and war reporter for the main Slovenian daily newspaper Delo and author of many books, published his latest book Dispatches from the Frontlines of Humanity: A Book of Reportage (Cambridge Scholars Publishers, 2019) and promised to himself and his closest ones that his “war-reporting boots were hung up for good”, he embarked on a different path – one of hope.
Together with Slovenian photographer Matjaž Krivic, one of the world’s top photographers and a recipient of the 2016 World Press Photo prize, they started exploring renewable energy projects in communities all around the world - from the waste-incineration plant in Norway that plans to store the captured CO₂ in underwater caves, to Tilos, the first 100 percent self-sustainable island in the Mediterranean. They found many alternatives and numerous solutions – a Plan B. Through Videmšek’s texts and photos by Matjaž Krivic the book offers a clear call to action and a glimpse of hope in these pessimistic times.
The Slovenian edition is out on 1 September 2020.
Read the full book proposal here.
For rights and full English text please contact samo(at)umco.si.
Photo: Boštjan Videmšek by Uroš Hočevar
Support for foreign publishers – three public calls issued on 19th June
On 19 June we published three public calls:
- Call for Proposals for the translation and publication of books by Slovenian authors in the German language for the year 2020 (deadline: 20 July 2020);
- Call for proposals for translations into foreign languages for the year 2020 (deadline: 27 July 2020),
- Call for support of printing costs – NEW! (deadline: 27 July 2020)
All applicants for all tenders and calls have to be legal entities (publisher) based outside Slovenia.
For all additional information please contact:
Translations into foreign languages and subsidy for printing costs: Katja Stergar, e-mail: slovenian.agency(at)gmail.com.
Publications of Slovenian literature in German language: Anja Kovač, e-mail: anja.kovac(at)jakrs.si.
Slovenian Literature in Translation – What’s New?
If you thought the rights market for Slovenian books stopped during the pandemics, think again! This spring we welcomed many new deals and published books in no less than ten languages: from the upcoming Chinese edition of the Slovenian classic and a global bestseller Alamut by Vladimir Bartol to Marta Bartolj’s wordless picture book planned at Chronicle Books in US under the title One Small Kindness. Meanwhile, German-speaking readers can newly read no less that two books about the first female solo traveller Alma M Karlin, who travelled the world in 1920's, Italian readers welcomed the cult Slovenian alpine classic Pot by Nejc Zaplotnik, the first Slovenian to climb Mount Everest in 1979, and much more.
Read the full list of Slovenian novelties in other languages here.
Highlight of the Month: Plan B - How Not to Lose Hope in the Time of Crisis by Boštjan Videmšek
After Boštjan Videmšek, an award-winning crisis and war reporter for the main Slovenian daily newspaper Delo and author of many books, published his latest book Dispatches from the Frontlines of Humanity: A Book of Reportage (Cambridge Scholars Publishers, 2019) and promised to himself and his closest ones that his “war-reporting boots were hung up for good”, he embarked on a different path – one of hope.
Together with Slovenian photographer Matjaž Krivic, one of the world’s top photographers and a recipient of the 2016 World Press Photo prize, they started exploring renewable energy projects in communities all around the world - from the waste-incineration plant in Norway that plans to store the captured CO₂ in underwater caves, to Tilos, the first 100 percent self-sustainable island in the Mediterranean. They found many alternatives and numerous solutions – a Plan B. Through Videmšek’s texts and photos by Matjaž Krivic the book offers a clear call to action and a glimpse of hope in these pessimistic times.
The Slovenian edition is out on 1 September 2020.
Read the full book proposal here.
For rights and full English text please contact samo(at)umco.si.
Photo: Boštjan Videmšek by Uroš Hočevar
