From Publishing Perspectives:
To be internationally recognized for its award-winning #IAmIntrovert campaign, Latvian literature—and its platform of that name LatvianLiterature.lv—will be touting some distinctly extroverted success at Frankfurter Buchmesse.
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The state-supported LatvianLiterature.lv platform is designed not only to promote international recognition for Latvian writings and talents but also to offer translation grants to publishers and translators; present cultural programming abroad; lead Latvia’s participation at international book fairs and trade shows; and organize literary visits to Riga.
But with almost poetic irony, all this friendly outreach and sociable interaction with world markets is now buoyed on the internationally popular #IAmIntrovert dynamic.
To quote from the ‘#IAmIntrovert manifest’: “Latvians can feel deeply confused when kissed on both cheeks or when suddenly talked to on a public bus or tram. If someone compliments a Latvian, he will turn red-white-red,” a subtle reference to the colors of the Latvian flag. “Latvia is one of the world’s most introverted nations and so are our writers, of course. And we’re proud of that. We allow our books to speak for us, since literature is the perfect world for introverts.”
Latvian Literature’s representative Ildze Jansone tells Publishing Perspectives, “When the #IAmIntrovert campaign was launched in 2016, it mainly targeted UK publishers, audiences, and media prior to the London Book Fair of 2018,” at which the Baltic nations of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia were the show’s combined Market Focus.
“Now the ongoing campaign,” she says, “targets anyone who loves literature. Our initial marketing campaign has become the strongest brand for promoting Latvian literature.”
And as it turns out, Jansone says, genuine cultural context underlies the success of the brand.
One upshot of the durable popularity of #IAmIntrovert is that Latvia’s writers and illustrators aren’t the only ones receiving accolades for their work—so is the campaign itself and the LatvianLiterature.lv platform.
Link to the rest at Publishing Perspectives