Places tell stories even when people are gone
Kasa Kassab’s She is a literary star and an author that is distinguished in all genres, and her books are written by world newspapers such as the New York Times, Guardian and others. At the Festival of Complexity within the Nova Gorica ECOC, she spoke about her book Borderin which he explores the historical and mythological layers of the border area of Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey, from the Tracans, the Romans through the Ottoman Empire to the history of the Cold War and the Migration Crisis.
There is something genuine, gentle and mystical. On stage in the packed full of Nova Gorica Library, France Bevk literally hypnotized the audience with her unusual way of speech; She spoke in -depth, with almost poetic metaphors, as if to weave a new story, writing a new book. It was sometimes impossible to jump into her sentences so as not to disturb her dense flow of words, so for the Saturday attachment, we also principled some questions after the event.
The limit, the first book of her Balkan tetrogue that is in exceptional translation Petre Meterc It was published last year at Beletrina, at the Fabula Festival, is an unusual reading: it is read as literature, as a travel essay, as a history book, a journey to other layers of being, in magical, mythological. At the same time, it is also a personal testimony of how the author returns to the landscape of her childhood to cross the formerly forbidden border between Bulgaria and Turkey and Greece. Thus, it reveals to us the historical layers of the place from the time of the Soviet and Ottoman Empire and enters deeper into the past, into myths and legends. The book is complemented by its portraits and meetings with hikers, smugglers, refugees, guardians of lighthouses, shepherds, treasure seekers, botanists and border guards. All this involves mythological narratives, ancient rituals, tracemakers, myths and legends.
Book Border has received numerous awards, including the British Academy Award for Book for Global Cultural Understanding and Award Saltire Scottish Book of the Year, However, it is translated into more than twenty languages.
Kasa Kassab’s came to Nova Gorica at the invitation of the Complexity Festival as part of the City of Book, organized by the European Capital of Culture GO! 2025 together with partners of the Humanists of Gorizia and the Bookstore Café Maks.
