Taiwanese writers Li Ang (李昂) and Li Yuan (李遠) read their works on July 4 at the opening of the largest literary festival in Central Europe. The “Authors’ Reading Month” festival runs from July 1 to August 3 and features a number of readings and symposiums in 5 cities around the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Taiwan is the special guest of honor at the festival this year, with 31 Taiwanese specially selected by the Culture Ministry and the Czech publishing company Větrné mlýny to participate. Taiwan is the first Asian country to be featured as a guest of honor at the event.
In the opening ceremony, Culture Minister Li read the prologue to his work “Walking Home” (走路・回家), to much fanfare. Representative to Slovakia Lee Nan-Yang (李南陽) said that Taiwanese literature has garnered a lot of attention in Eastern Europe. By featuring Taiwan, the goal is to showcase the diversity of Taiwanese literature. Lee added that, as Taiwan and Slovakia’s friendship is quite deep, it is only right that both learn more about each other’s culture. The reading exchange, he finished, would surely deepen the relationship between the two countries.
The opening ceremony was also graced by author Li Ang reading from her work “Rouged Sacrifice” (彩妝血祭), a work touching on gender themes and the 228 Incident. Li was the very first reader at the event and emphasized she was honored to represent Taiwan. She said that this event was the largest international event in her cultural reading exchanges and that she deeply felt the friendliness of the Central European countries.