A country with a rich book culture

Slovenia will present in Frankfurt as a modern, culturally developed, politically dynamic country, and a great tourist destination with a rich literary culture. The latter has a long and important tradition in Slovenia; it is worth noting that the country’s euro coins depict two important Slovenian personalities, both closely associated with books: Primož Trubar, the author of the first Slovenian book (otherwise a priest), who was active in the 16th century, and France Prešeren, a great poet, guardian of the Slovenian language, and a critic of Slovenian provincialism, who was a central Slovenian figure of the 19^th century. 

Because of the political tunnel vision of Austria/Austro-Hungary and Yugoslavia (especially the second, socialist Yugoslavia), throughout a major part of Slovenian history the most talented and insightful Slovenian intellectuals preferred literature and culture to politics. This refuge became less attractive to ambitious young people only with the economic, social, technological, political, and cultural developments that came with and culminated in independence and integration into the EU.

On the one hand Slovenian book production has traditionally been outward-looking, and rather inward-looking on the other. Works by Slovenian authors have rarely been translated into foreign languages, while Slovenian publishing houses have opened their doors wide to translations. The situation has begun to change over the past two decades, and the trend towards translating Slovenian works has gained momentum, particularly in preparation for the Frankfurt Guest of Honour project. Thus, between 2019 and 2022, more than 600 translations of Slovenian works in all languages have been published – some one-fifth of which in the German-speaking countries – which is almost three times as many as before the start of activities related to the Frankfurt Book Fair.