On 24–26 July, Lviv will host the 11th “Month of Authorial Readings” (MAČ) literary festival, one of Europe’s largest cross-border literary events. This year, writers from Ukraine, Taiwan, Czechia, Slovakia, Greenland and Poland will take part, and the main theme of the concluding discussion will be the fragility of solidarity in a world going through turbulent times.
The “Month of Authorial Readings” festival was launched in 1999 in the Czech city of Brno. Since then, it has taken place every summer in July, simultaneously in several cities, bringing together the literary scenes of different countries. Today, the MAČ route includes Brno and Ostrava in Czechia, as well as four Slovak cities: Košice, Bratislava, Trenčín and Prešov. Lviv has been part of this European network since 2015.
The distinctive feature of the format is that the invited writers travel between the participating cities, present their texts and create a shared cultural space in which the specific character of national literatures comes to the fore. Over ten years, the Ukrainian strand of the festival has become an important platform for cultural diplomacy: the Lviv audience has discovered more than 100 Ukrainian and 257 foreign authors, while international guests have become acquainted with contemporary Ukrainian literature.
The organisers emphasise that despite the pandemic and Russia’s full-scale invasion, MAČ has maintained continuity, and European participants continue to come to Ukraine. Poland, Czechia and Slovakia remain long-standing partner countries of the festival, and this year literary guests from Taiwan and Greenland will come to Lviv for the first time. All events will be accompanied by simultaneous interpretation into Ukrainian.
The Lviv programme will feature the renowned Ukrainian writer Sofiya Andrukhovych, Taiwanese journalist and researcher Jason Liu, and Greenlandic journalist Paornanguaq Helene Kleist. Slovakia will be represented by Klára Tihlaríková, a columnist and specialist in humanitarian work in de-occupied and frontline areas of Ukraine. Also coming to Lviv are one of the most popular contemporary Czech philosophers Václav Němec, and Polish political scientist, writer and journalist Przemysław Witkowski.
All MAČ events in Lviv will take place on the Small Stage of the Lesya Theatre (36 Horodotska St, entrance from Zakhysnykiv Ukrainy St). Admission to events is free, subject to prior registration and a voluntary contribution. The funds raised will go to support a friend of the festival, Oleksiy Palyanychka, who serves in the 57th Separate Motorised Infantry Brigade.
The festival programme in Lviv includes a series of authorial readings and a closing panel discussion:
- 24 July (Friday), 18:00 — event with Jason Liu (Taiwan), moderated by Olha Myrovych;
- 24 July, 19:30 — meeting with Klára Tihlaríková (Slovakia), moderated by Andriy Drozda;
- 25 July (Saturday), 16:30 — conversation with Václav Němec (Czechia), moderated by Yurko Prokhasko;
- 25 July, 18:00 — meeting with Paornanguaq Helene Kleist (Greenland), moderated by Bohdana Brylynska;
- 25 July, 19:30 — event with Przemysław Witkowski (Poland), moderated by Antin Borkovskyi;
- 26 July (Sunday), 17:00 — author event with Sofiya Andrukhovych (Ukraine), moderated by Olesya Yaremchuk;
- 26 July, 18:30 — joint discussion “The Fragility of Solidarity: how we can support one another in a turbulent world” with the participation of Paornanguaq Helene Kleist, Przemysław Witkowski, Jason Liu, Klára Tihlaríková, Sofiya Andrukhovych and Václav Němec, moderated by Yurko Prokhasko.
The festival in Lviv is organised by the Lviv City NGO “Arts Council “Dialogue”” and the publishing house “Vetrne Mlyny”. The event is supported by the International Renaissance Foundation, MND Ukraine, Lviv City Council and the “Lviv — UNESCO City of Literature” office, in cooperation with a number of Ukrainian and international partners.
The organisers note that this year again MAČ will have an online broadcast with simultaneous interpretation, so people will be able to join the events from anywhere in the world.