News

There is a lot of literary news this spring, with the nomination of Jeff Schinker for the European Prize for Literature, but also with the prospects of exchanges after a field trip at the Bologna Book Fair and during our national participation at the upcoming Brussels Book Fair.

Field trip at the Children Bologna Book Fair
Kultur | lx organised a field trip to the Bologna Children’s Book Fair from 6th until 8th of March with two Luxembourgish publishing houses specialised in children’s and young adult literature, Kremart Edition and Editions Guy Binsfeld.

The field trip allowed the editors to broaden their network and strengthen already existing ties made through various book projects, thus evaluating the interest of a potential presence of their publishing house in the coming years at this major event. The editors also took advantage of the BCBF to discover the newest trends and perspectives in children’s and young adults literature as well as the different exhibitions of illustrators. Overall, the visit at the BCBF has given the participating editors new ideas and perspectives for interesting new publishing projects.

“It was important for Editions Guy Binsfeld to further develop relationships with other publishers and service providers, to buy licences and sell them in parallel. The next few weeks will show whether and to what extent we have succeeded in this. At the same time, we have deepened already existing relationships with publishers, authors and illustrators and can look forward to joint projects in the future. The sea of outstanding illustrations and concepts as well as the abundance of ideas and nice people ensured that we returned with new books, good contacts to international experts and, above all, a lot of inspiration”, explains Marie Mathieu

Jeff Schinker – Nominee for the European Union Prize for Literature 2023
At the Bologna Book Fair, the nominees for the European Union Prize for Literature 2023 were revealed. Among the 13 authors from 14 countries on the shortlist is Jeff Schinker’s My Life in the Tents.

The nominating organisation for Luxembourg composed by Anne Diderich (Fédération luxembourgeoise des Libraires), Jeanne Glesener (University of Luxembourg), Nathalie Jacoby (Centre national de littérature), Béatrice Kneip (journalist) and Florent Toniello (A:LL Schrëftsteller*innen), has selected Ma vie sous les tentes by Jeff Schinker for its unflinchingly honest look at a way of life in which the fear of mediocrity and solitude drives every move and every sentence in search for connections that transcend the seemingly unremarkable and for its insightful exploration of the sociology of festival life.

The winner of the EUPL 2023 and the five special mentions will be announced on 28 April at a ceremony at the Leipzig Book Fair (where Kultur | lx will be present for the first time with six publishers on a national stand).

First national presence at the Brussels Book Fair

This will be Kultur | lx – Arts Council Luxembourg’s first time exhibiting at the Luxembourg booth at this major event.

Four Luxembourg publishers – Capybarabooks, Hydre Editions, Kiwi E.L.G. and PassaParola Editions – have opted to take advantage of this opportunity to exhibit their latest French-language releases in literature, non-fiction and children’s books at the Brussels Book Fair (30 March to 2 April 2023).

In addition to the stand where Antoine Pohu will sign his new novel Parfois la nuit se tait (Capybarabooks, 2023) on Saturday 1st April from 02:00p.m. to 03p.m., on Sunday 2 April at 10.00 a.m., a meeting and reading will be organised around the theme: ‘Transgressions et perspectives féministes’ with Tullio Forgiarini and Nathalie Ronvaux.

Kultur | lx invites you to discover authors and publishers on Instagram from Wednesday 15 March before meeting them at stand no. 209 at the Brussels Book Fair.