The five authors that are attending the festival are Stefan Hertmans, Leonard Nolens, Miriam Van hee, Monika van Paemel and Peter Verhelst. The works of four of them are published in a bulky anthology: ‘Ruimte: An Anthology of Modern Poetry from Flanders'. This publication will be presented during the festival. The anthology focuses on 23 Flemish poets, ranging from the classics (Paul van Ostaijen, Paul Snoek) to the contemporary (Eva Cox, Els Moors). Renowned author Boris Novak has translated a selection of poetry by Van Ostaijen which will also be published in time for the festival. The same Novak is the Slovenian translator of ‘Marguerite', Monika van Paemel's latest novel. Thanks to previous translations of her works, van Paemel is not a stranger to the Slovenian public. The winner of the Gouden Uil (Golden Owl) award for youth literature, ‘Het geheim van de keel van de nachtegaal' (The secret of the nightingale's throat) by illustrator Carll Cneut and writer Peter Verhelst, is also being translated into Slovenian, as well as in French, German and Spanish. Furthermore, Verhelst's prose is included in a collection of Flemish fiction, together with stories by Hertmans and van Paemel.
In the past years other Flemish authors have found their way to the Slovenian readers. In 2008 a fiction box of six European novels included two Flemish titles: ‘De Kabbalist' (The Cabbalist) by Geert Kimpen and ‘De ontelbaren' (The uncountable) by Elvis Peeters. ‘Onvoltooid verleden' (Simple past) by Hugo Claus was already available in Slovenian, now the translation of ‘De geruchten' (The rumours) is in the works. Dimitri Verhulst's ‘De helaasheid der dingen' (The sorrow of things) too was published in Slovenian and Koen Peeters' ‘Grote Europese roman' (Great European novel) is set to be translated in 2010. Most of these translations are by Mateja Seliskar.
The Flemish Literature Fund (FLF) supported above mentioned translations with translation and/or production grants. The FLF also provides travel grants for the five authors to attend the festival.
