The International Writers' Festival of Mishkenot Sha'ananim and the International Book Forum will be held together for the very first time.
This is the largest international literary event in Israel, attended by leading writers and publishing executives – from all around the world – to take part in cultural events open to the general public, including a professional conference held by the Forum.
The International Book Festival, which has hosted members of the international publishing community since 1963, has a new name, “The International Book Forum”, and a new format as an international publishing conference. The forum will be held, for the first time, alongside the International Writers Festival of Mishkenot Sha'ananim, which hosts leading writers from around the globe. So far, the Writers Festival has been held every two years, but now it will be an annual festival, which collaborates with the International Book Forum. The launch of this joint event is intended to expand the collaboration between Israeli and international publishing professionals and writers who will arrive at the forum and the festival, and to expose contemporary world literature to the general public.
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The spirit of independent thinking and creative freedom
This year, the International Writers Festival will mark the spirit of independent thinking and creative freedom, and will host literary events with guest writers representing contemporary voices of world literature, in one-off meetings with writers and artists from Israel.
The International Book Forum will be held concurrently, and will offer vocational and commercial meetings for professionals from the publishing industry from around the world, including panels, discussion groups, open interviews, presentations and informal gatherings.
“The International Writers Festival has already established its status in Israel, and has gained an international reputation," says Moti Schwartz, general manager of Mishkenot Sha'ananim and the director of the festival. “The world's leading writers, veterans and promising young people participate in it. It offers the general public a program of one-time meetings between writers from Israel and the world, and other cultural events, music performances, tours, workshops and more.
Author Joyce Carol Oates with Barack Obama © GettyImages
“The forum was built as a professional and social meeting,” explains Yoel Makov, director of the International Book Forum. "A meeting of the best professionals in the field of publishing, talking and creating new initiatives and collaborations in Jerusalem, in the belief of the added value of free discourse, of face-to-face interaction, and of interpersonal relationships.”
The International Book Forum and the International Book Festival of 2019 will open on May 12, at a ceremony at the YMCA, in which Mayor Moshe Leon will award the Jerusalem Prize to the well-known American author Joyce Carol Oates. The Jerusalem Prize, founded in 1963, is awarded by the mayor of Jerusalem to an international writer whose writing expresses the idea of "human freedom in society". During the following three days, the YMCA halls in Jerusalem (on King David Street) will host discussions and meetings (participation in the forum requires registration in advance).
The cultural events of the International Writers Festival (literary encounters with contemporary voices in world literature) will take place in Mishkenot Sha'ananim, May 12-16, 2019. jbookforum.com