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3rd Open Central Asia Book Forum & Literature Festival 2014

Monday, 25. August 2014 - 17:13

According a release issued by Silk Road Media, the British publishing house Hertfordshire Press, with the help of the National State Book Chamber of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Association of Publishers and Booksellers of Kazakhstan, will host the third Open Central Asia Book Forum and Literature Festival (OCABF) on November 14-17, 2014.

This year, the festival organizers plan to hold the four day celebration in Kazakhstan, with events in both Astana and Almaty, to focus attention on the development of the publishing sector across the whole Central Asian region.

The forum will celebrate Central Asian writing and writers, both past and present, and will unite not only representatives of publishing companies and authors, but also their audiences, including libraries, educational institutions and the media. The organizing committee are delighted to announce that a third literary contest will be held, with a total prize value equivalent to $17,000, allowing the publication of the winning entry’s work. Last year Abdulla Isa, from Azerbaijan, won the contest with his work “Man of Mountains” which will be published later this year and follows the successful publication of the first contest winner, Galina Dolgaya, whose work, “The Gods of the Middle World” is already published. Neither of these would have been published without the help of OCABF and Hertfordshire Press.

The event follows on from the last two years’ hugely successful Open Central Asia Book Forum and Literature Festivals. The first of these took place on November 24-25, 2012, in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, with a total of 1,300 attendees at what was the first such event since independence. Last year’s festival took place in London November on 5-9, 2013 allowing English audiences to get a real feel for the talent and style of Central Asian authors. Both festivals featured appearances by international literary stars including Janusz Leon Wisniewski (Poland), Hamid Ismailov (UK and Uzbekistan), and Elchin Safarli (Azerbaijan).

Open Central Asia Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief, Nick Rowan, says of the event, “It’s very exciting that this event is now in its third consecutive year and will return to Central Asia. Kazakhstan will provide a wonderful host country as it has already done so for many other international events recently. The depth and breadth of participants, publishers and authors attending make this an important place of discovery for Central Asian writing both past and present and I look forward to another year of success.”

The Open Central Asia Book Forum and Literature Festival 2014 will again host a literature competition in four categories: literary work, literary translation, illustration and video.

Authors, translators and illustrators from Azerbaijan, Central Asia and worldwide are invited to take part in the event with prize fund worth $17,000, which will go towards publishing the book of the winner and launching it at the annual London Book Fair in 2016 by Hertfordshire Press.

Three other prizes have also been established for the Forum 2014: 1) Nemat Khelimbetov Award of $10,000 for first ever contest in Central Asia to find the best video or experimental movie based on Central Asian works of literature; 2) Marziya Zakirianova Award of $5,000 for the best female work in any category; and Nur Mukhammad Award of $3,000 for the best work based on a Uigur theme in any category.

Source: 
news.tj
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3rd Open Central Asia Book Forum & Literature Festival 2014
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