2024
Prima Vista 2024 – “Futures Better and Worse”
6–12 May
The Tartu International Literary Festival Prima Vista 2024 took place from May 6 to 12. The festival’s theme was “Futures Better and Worse”, which also gave its name to a special programme.
The festival opened on May 6 at 4:15 PM in front of the University of Tartu Library, where the Translation Agency and the Grand Futurological Congress were also launched.
Both the Grand Futurological Congress and the Translation Agency were part of the official programme of European Capital of Culture Tartu 2024. The Translation Agency, founded by the Institute of Meetings and Non-Meetings, was open from May 6 to 10 in and around the University Library. From Monday to Friday, the Grand Futurological Congress hosted ten writers who explored possible futures from different perspectives.
The special programme also included the film series Stalking Eastern Europe at the Elektriteater, the special issue of Värske Rõhk magazine titled How to Write Kindness, an exhibition of works created within the project Poetics of Survival, and the interdisciplinary project Bring Your Own Utopia, realised in cooperation with UNESCO Cities of Literature Heidelberg, Lviv, Manchester, Norwich, and Reykjavík.
The Annual Conference of the Science Fiction Research Association was also part of the programme, bringing to Tartu around one hundred scolars and specialists from all over the world.
Whereas in previous years the festival’s theme was interpreted by a single patron, in 2024 the programme Tones of the Future highlighted seven Estonian authors, each taking on the role of “day patron” or daily curator: Meelis Friedenthal, Berit Petolai, Tõnis Tootsen, Maarja Pärtna, Doris Kareva, Merca, and Urmas Vadi. Throughout the week, each of them published a new text that opened up their vision of possible futures and survival, accompanied by an event inviting festival visitors to reflect on issues such as social change, environmental challenges, and humanity’s future.
International guests of Prima Vista included German author Julia von Lucadou, Finnish author Emmi Itäranta, Ukrainian poet Halyna Kruk, Canadian-British writer and activist Cory Doctorow, and the Latvian literary group Preiļu konceptuālisti. Among Estonian writers, in addition to the day patrons, were Tõnis Vilu, Aapo Ilves, Mirjam Parve, Kristina Viin, Maarja Kangro, and many others.
Alongside new initiatives, the programme also featured long-established traditions such as the book fair on May 7 at Town Hall Square, the art programme, the young authors’ evening Literature with a Spark, literary and cultural walks, and the concert Writers in Music. The festival concluded with the cultural marathon Insomniacaton III, which offered a wide range of performances. Among the participants were American beat poet and creator of the Insomniacaton format Ron Whitehead, American poet Jinn Bug, Canadian author Christiane Vadnais (then in residence in Tartu), Latvian poet Ivars Šteinbergs, Estonian authors Aime Hansen, Kristel Mägedi, fs, and day patron Merca.
The festival’s main supporters were: European Capital of Culture Tartu 2024, the Estonian Cultural Endowment, and the City of Tartu.
