The Toruń Word Festival will take place outdoors in Toruń, Chełmża, Grębocin and Mała Nieszawka, from June 16 to 27.

This year, the organizers decided to extend the current program of the Toruń Book Festival, which is reflected in the changed name, following the modern changes in the mentality of the audience. ‘A book is not the only medium of superhuman cognition, but more and more often such a role is also provided by audiobooks, e-books, vlogs, modern messaging, as well as the increasing popularity of languages enhancing accessibility for people with special needs (sign language, languages other than their mother tongue)”, says Announcement of the Artus Court Cultural Center in Toruń.

The events will include literary meetings with authors, concerts, performative readings, workshops, as well as happenings and word games in the city. The festival guests will include writers who clearly highlight issues related to identity or, going further, integration in their literature.

As announced by the organizers, the guests of the event will be Mariusz Szczygieł, Krystyna Kurczab-Redlich, Andrij Lubka, Zbigniew Rokita, Julia Wizowska, Joanna Bator, Łukasz Barys, Magdalena Grzebałkowska, Mira Marcinów, Tomasz Markiewka and Justyna Sobolewska.

As part of the Toruń Festival of Words, open-air concerts will also be held offering an opportunity to listen to bands referring to Slavic folklore. The Ukrainian band AtmAsfera will perform in Chełmża, while the Toruń audience at the Old Town Square will be able to listen to the Tuhaj-Bej formation.

In Chełmża, as part of the accompanying events, workshops for cooking Ukrainian dishes will be held, led by animators and animators from Ukraine. On the other hand, at the Museum of Printing and Writing in Grębocin, you will be able to participate in classes on the basics of writing in Cyrillic.

Adrian Andrzejewski