Fabula ‒ Literature of the World festival

Fabula ‒ Literature of the World festival is the biggest and most visited literary festival in Slovenia and the wider region. Founded in 2003, it has hosted many modern classics: Herta Müller, Irvin Welsh, Jonathan Franz, Hanif Kureishi, David Grossman, Janice Galloway, Richard Flanagan, Taiye Selasi, Tatiana Tolstoy, Eric Vuillard, Rachel Cusk, Deborah Levy, Jokha Alharthi, Bernhard Schlink, Vladimir Sorokin, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and many others. During the years, the festival’s concept has evolved and improved. Today, it is based on a well-thought out curator’s work that tries to pick five authors, who are already considered literary classics or who have made a significant mark on world literature in recent years with their work, while the festival programme Fabula Hub also pays attention to perspective, still establishing literary names.

The starting point of the festival's focus in 2023 is the question of the past, what we can (and cannot) learn from the very example of the past - how the shadows of the past influence our present and what lessons they communicate to us on our way to the future. The festival's slogan, (re)constructions of memory, will bring together internationally renowned authors and authors who are currently considered the best in their countries and on a global scale: Oksana Zabužka, Tatiana Țîbuleac, José Luís Peixoto, László Krasznahorkai, Bernardine Evaristo and Cristina Morales.

In addition to the literary part, the festival also has a theoretical focus, which each year questions a new relevant social topic. So far, Slavoj Žižek, Terry Eagleton, Chantal Mouffe, Eva Illouz, Jean-Claude Milner, Patrick Boucheron, Umberto Galimberti, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichieand others have been guests in the theoretical focus. Fabula Festival is also distinguished by an extremely varied accompanying program, which is intended for all generations of readers and brings everything from children's and youth programs (Young Fabula), interactive literary installations to public space (Fabula polis), collaborations with Slovenian publishers and bookstores (Fabula selection), genre intertwining between literature and theater and other art genres (Fabula outside literature), to projects establishing the festival as an incubator of new literary ideas and future literary trends (Fabula Hub), thus strengthening the space of the wider literary and social community.

The main five guests of the festival and the selected young literary name from the Fabula Hub program are also accompanied by fresh translations of books into Slovene. Usually, these are also the first ever translations of the authors into Slovene. The important mission of the festival remains to acquaint Slovenian readers with relevant world literature, which has received wider recognition abroad but is still quite unknown to the general public in Slovenia.

All the books will be published in the festival collection by Beletrina Academic Press and will be up for sale, for 10 euros each, as the festival's desire remains the accessibility of the book program and the spread of reading culture in the general public.

The festival is organised by Beletrina Academic Press.
The festival’s co-producer is Cankarjev dom.