?Literature?is flourishing,? Lajos Parti Nagy said in his opening remarks. He emphasised the bond between the two events and stressed the importance of investing in the country?s children. "If this country is in the least bit concerned about its future, it should invest all the money, the energy, the love, and the attention it has in children," he said.
Book Week?s main venue will be Vörösmarty tér, in the city centre, where 232 Hungarian and foreign publishers will show their latest offerings in 160 tents. Books will be offered at significant discounts until Monday.
The release of nearly 300 new titles will take place during Book Week.
"This year's book fair will be unprecedented in volume," according to Péter László Zentai of the Hungarian Book Publishers' and Distributors' Association (MKKE), Book Week?s organiser. This year's Book Week aims to attract masses of people by offering a record number of programmes and events, he said.
In addition to Vörösmarty tér, Book Week events are scheduled to take place at the main square in Óbuda, at Liszt Ferenc tér, Móricz Zsigmond körtér and in Ráday utca. The programme of events includes book signings, readings, concerts and much more.
Budapest?s Book Week was the brainchild of journalist and art historian Géza Supka, who organised the first one in 1929. The long-running event is without parallel in Europe.
Also on Thursday, MKKE presented awards for its Beautiful Hungarian Book 2005 competition. This year, 153 books from 68 publishers were shortlisted for the awards. Among the winners were Gyöngyi Török, for her book Gothic Winged Altars in Medieval Hungary, Noémi Saly, the author of From My Coffee Place to a Music Coffee House, and László Mészáros, for his book The Danube.
The Ministry of Culture presented its Hermes Awards, which recognises quality bookshops around Hungary. This year?s winners were the Líra bookshop in Miskolc's Szinvapark shopping centre and Budapest's Vince bookshop.
Prizes in the Arnold Gara competition for young illustrators went to Orsolya Csilléri, Alexandra Nádas and Kornél Nágel.
The Artisjus Literary Awards, presented for the first time, went to literary historian Győző Ferenc for his biography of writer Miklós Radnóti. The prize carries a HUF 3 million purse.
Artisjus Literary Award Scholarships, which are worth HUF 1.8 million apiece, went to Éva Bernicky, Szilárd Borbély, György Dragomán, Tamás Jónás and Ferenc Temesi.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
