Eleven talks in total from this year’s HeadRead festival are published on the free Jupiter platform of Estonian Public Broadcasting (ERR), with ten already available for watching. It is the first time such a large share of the festival’s programme is broadcast.
The eighth season of ERR’s programme Kirjanduse aeg (The Time of Literature) features ten talks that are now available for watching online: Mikhail Shishkin and Harri Tiido, Kristina Sabaliauskaitė and Linda Kaljundi, Tadhg Mac Dhonnagáin and Sinéad Mac Aodha, Eero Epner and Maarja Undusk, Elin Cullhed and Eia Uus, Kate Mosse and Elisa Johanna Liiv, Andri Snær Magnason and Maarja Merivoo-Parro, Lilli Luuk and Carolina Pihelgas, Jussi Adler-Olsen and Krõõt Kaljusto-Munck, and Monique Roffey and Kaisa Ling. On 18 July, Estonian Television will broadcast the talk of Anthony Horowitz and Jason Goodwin, which will subsequently also be added to Jupiter. The series is directed by Maarja Pärsim.
In addition to the talks that have been made available online, the Tammsaare Park in central Tallinn has a photo exhibition by Dmitri Kotjuh with portraits of people from the Estonian literary scene.
The 2023 festival, held in late May, was a great hit with audiences. Over five days, around 4500 people visited the main venue, the Estonian Writers’ Union, with some festival goers watching the talk of Mikhail Shishkin and Harri Tiido, for example, on the screen outside the venue, as the room could not fit the entire crowd. We were happy to see substantial audiences in literary and musical events at other venues – the Estonian Children’s Literature Centre, Ait, Kelleteater, Tallinn Central Library and Kuku Club.
Information about the festival is available on Facebook and Instagram, and we have a rich gallery of photos by Dmitri Kotjuh on Flickr. The next HeadRead literary festival is held from 29 May to 2 June 2024.
