Mind the Literature
The international professional program Mind the literature aims to broaden the dialogue on the role and value of literary events and festivals for literature itself, for writers, and for the public.
In 2025, as part of the festival Literary Talks Sofia: Archaeology of Memory, Mind the Literature was launched: a professional program for cultural managers in the field of literature. Its second edition took place in 2026 during Literary Talks Sofia: Dystopia and Resistance.
The aim of this international professional program is to create a platform for exchanging experiences, to raise questions regarding programming, participants, various formats, audiences, funding, the team, and partnerships, as well as to broaden the dialogue on the need for and significance of literary events and festivals. Festival directors and literary managers from Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Scotland, Germany, Slovenia, Belgium, Croatia, and the Netherlands participated in several days of discussions and workshops during two editions of the program.
The events during the intensive days of the professional program are predominantly not open to the public, but they contribute to expanding experience and the exchange of knowledge, as well as to diverse practices and new approaches in the interaction between the audience and live literary art. All guests of Mind the Literature are also part of the audience at the Literary Talks Sofia Festival, which is of particular importance for the visibility of the Bulgarian literary context among artistic directors and managers from various European countries.
