The nail in the coffin for me this weekend was the OPEN BOOKS Literature Festival and the 15 min Book Awards - an event I was looking forward to as much as the Book Fair, but I don't have the energy to visit all the events I want to visit, so I'll make up for it in the autumn. And for the first year or so, I wonder how I have managed to be here so well after reading every second nominated book, and at home I am nicknamed the book goblin and I am proud of it, and this is my favourite self, the one who snorts and sniffs and snuggles in bed and calls books "my precious".
Here are some brief impressions of what I could hear in the two halls:
- The discussion on book criticism was really cool. Like the idea that we've long outgrown the acceptance of Radioshow-style jokes and the pigeonholing of authors under the Castor&Pollux pseudonym, and that nowadays it's just tasteless, low and just plain dumb. A critic has to argue his criticism well and demonstrate his sophistication, not his hang-ups. It is true that in small Lithuania, even in such very politically correct conditions, there is still a risk that some authors will not say goodbye to the critic or that publishing houses will not give books, but the panellists defended their right to maintain authenticity and not to lie to readers. Particularly painful used to be the anonymous commentators even on literary websites, where there was no criticism, only the desire to humiliate and offend - thank goodness those times are over and everyone is "responsible for the bazaar", both positive and critical.

- Discussion on books about US Presidents and candidates. Michael's point stuck out that Trump says anything and everything without choosing his words - he lies, he insults and is allowed and forgiven for it, while Mr Harris is called upon to explain or apologise for every sentence he says. Or the same interview may be praised by some, while others will say that they have never heard such a crime before. The show itself becomes more important than anything else. It is frightening - we will be waiting for the denouement in a week's time.

- I was looking forward to the conversation between J. Tumasonytė and K. Zylė very much - I find these two authors both different and somehow so similar, so close, because of the mythological insertions in their work, because of the half-historical, half-fantastic world they have interchanged. The authors shared behind-the-scenes of their work, e.g. how they searched for information to describe in detail, say, the decomposition of the body. Jurga joked that the idea of including "good sex" in the novel came from a reader's review of a previous book. We had a funny conversation about "playing with symbols and liquids", ending with the idea that what is left between the written words is sometimes even more important than what is told in the lines. This idea will be revisited later by the guest from Denmark.

- The intricacies of psychological or self-help books. People like and buy these books, especially about relationships, about children, about stress, about self-esteem and about how the past - for example, childhood traumas - affects us. There are a lot of clichés in psychology that it is fashionable to throw around left and right, such as narcissists, depression, trauma, ADHD, etc., and the biggest danger is, of course, to oversimplify, to simplify and to simplify and to imagine that you are omniscient. Genovaite aptly pointed out that people like to choose books to validate their beliefs and sometimes they only harm themselves by doing so, e.g. a mother who does not know how to set boundaries reads about attachment parenting and puts her children in the head, or a client who is not self-loving reads about self-esteem building and goes sky high. Each person needs very individual help and everyone agreed that there is apparently no way without therapy. But there are some very good ones, such as There are good ones, such as "Break out of the trap", "Women who love too much", "The drama of the gifted child", etc. The panellists did not disagree that fiction can also act as a way of learning about or changing one's world, but that it is rare for a professional to have a recipe for what to read or watch.

The absolute highlight of the evening was Danish writer Tine Høeg. I had not read her before, and when I opened the book I hiccupped - is this really a novel written like a poem, with spare columns or even blank pages of one word each? And then Akvilė Kavaliauskaitė read an excerpt (pictured), and we were all amazed - the text poured out in a captivating and smooth way, without a single unnecessary word. Tine's writing style has captivated the Danes and the world with every translation, and her book Hunger is being made into a Netflix series. She chooses every word with the utmost care, so it's not easy to write this way, and the meaning is created by both the words and the pauses, sometimes even more eloquently. A few thoughts that I have even written down:
(a) When she won her first literary prize money, the money was the only time she could devote to writing, which is the greatest pastime for a writer. So she could quit her teaching job and get on with her next job, even though she had only two months to do it before the budget ran out.
b) People use a lot of metaphors and poetry in everyday speech, so she collects overheard phrases and situations like a camera.
c) When she became a mother, she was afraid that she would not be able to write as much, but in fact she started to use her very limited writing time in a very concentrated way, which helped her.
d) Aquila tried to provoke by asking how interesting the author has to be as a person (because Tine is really very extravagant and interesting and you can see on Instagram how extraordinary her colourful home is). Here Tine was very open - you can't do anything by force, by design, just for attention - you do what comes naturally, you live the way you feel. As a communication consultant, I have to agree - I have never seen someone who is not "comfortable and not happy" with publicity, talking, sharing thoughts and everyday life - to have learnt and applied it. No matter how many courses there are on it.
e) Tine's wonderful idea, which I had already read in Česlovas Miloš, that when she writes, she has the feeling that at some point the work starts to develop on its own, not because of her idea, but through her hands. It is as if the text creates itself and she would not have come up with it herself if she had not given herself over to writing. A moment of creative sensibility is wonderfully captured. That is, of course, what Elizabeth Gilbert's Ted talk is about, and it is very curious to hear different authors talking about the same thing.
f) Tine was very frank about being both an introvert and an extrovert - she likes solitude when she writes and she likes attention, meeting readers, and it's a pleasure to see us here. And I was very happy to hear her warm enthusiasm, because, well, I'll be honest, I can't somehow stomach authors who almost seem to despise the attention that is given to them, and there are some, you know.
And the event culminates with the awards. The annual Antanukas Prize for the beauty of non-fiction went to Darius Žiūras for his book "Diseris", which I had specially brought to the event to ask the author for his autograph. I must confess - I sat down to read it with a little scepticism, but once I was hooked, I was hooked, and I'll write again sometime. Bravo to the author and the team.

And the winners of the 15-minute readers' and jury's picks. I was particularly happy about two of the winners - the poet Jurgita Jasponyte and Kotryna Zylė, whose "Beloved Bones" amazed me with such imaginative power. When I started reading about the housing estate and the animals on the trolleybuses, I leaned back - is this possible?! Congratulations most sincerely. And thanks to the organisers, including Audrius Ozalas, for the great emotions. I didn't get to the end of the evening of passionate poetry, my heart ached for the poets and for the children at home, but the reader is human too.
Then I go and read what I haven't finished yet, because somewhere in December there's still the Pavilion Book Weekend to come, then the bookstore Christmas rush, and then the Book Fair isn't that far away, the eternal book FOMO, it's always not enough, uch!
