The Trubar House of Literature, the first literary house in Slovenia, opens on Thursday 2 September 2010 at Stritarjeva ulica 7.

Ljubljana thus joins numerous other European cities – Munich, Vienna, Hamburg, Salzburg, Frankfurt, Leipzig, Cologne, Copenhagen, Oslo and others – in which such public institutions have been up and running for some years now. This is a lasting legacy of winning the title 'Ljubljana – World Book Capital 2010', which is sure to have a positive influence on the literary, cultural and intellectual life not only in the Slovenian capital but also further afield. In a spatial sense the Trubar House of Literature unites a museum area, reading room and space to carry out an activity programme.

The Trubar House of Literature will build its international profile in the integration of literature with other artistic forms of expression and contemporary practices and openness to a variety of literary, artistic and intellectual perspectives and approaches – all with strong international sign and focus on superior quality. In this context, the programme will be linked with literary houses and related cultural institutions worldwide.

Programme concept

In terms of size (171.88m²) the Trubar House of Literature is among the smallest literary houses in Europe, but does not lag behind them in programme concept terms. On the contrary, the programme is highly ambitiously conceived and seeks in the long term to become a reference point for literature, books and socio-critical reflection in the broadest sense.

The programme is designed to unite three basic elements:

• museum-memorial,
• literary-artistic,
• critical-reflexive.

In the museum and memorial programme, visitors can view a light installation by Italian artist Allesandro Luppi and a memorial room dedicated to Primož Trubar and a twenty-minute multimedia presentation on Trubar’s period in Ljubljana. An educational history lesson is especially designed for children and young people. In this way we seek to adequately preserve Trubar’s legacy and open it to the general public.

Literary events, festivals, readings, book presentations, creative workshops, as well as the hosting of foreign writers and poets and so on are to be held in the literary - artistic programme. In this sense, the Trubar House of Literature links writers, poets, creators and artists of diverse profiles and creative approaches. A special programme is dedicated to cultural education, to promote the culture of reading, and broaden literary, media and information literacy among children and young people.

Critical reflection on literary and cultural life and social conditions in general is particularly vital at a time when public life and the media landscape is characterized by phenomena such as the commercialisation and tabloidisation of cultural and media content. As a ‘public word space’ the house will enable theorists, critics, intellectuals and all those who ‘think with their own minds’, to express their views on the changing cultural and social reality.

Until the end of the ‘Ljubljana - World Book Capital 2010’ project (23 April 2011) the City of Ljubljana’s Department of Culture will be the events programme co-ordinator at the Trubar House of Literature. Ljubljana City Library will co-ordinate activities in the reading room, while a part of the programme is to be designed on the basis of hosting other performers.