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The incentive to choose the freedom of speech as a subject was, according to the organizers, an undergoing heated debate about the freedom of expression across Europe as well as globally. The Library of Babel limited its scope to the freedom of the written word and pursued to handle the topic from the viewpoint of Estonian opinion makers, writers, journalists and representatives of the Nordic countries. The Literary forum took place December 15-16 in the National Library of Estonia. Nordic contributors to the forum included Anne Otterholm, the president of the Norwegian Writers' Union and Mikko Lehtonen, Professor of Media Culture at the Tampere University (Finland). Otterholm talked about the freedom of speech and its limitations capable of hurting people’s feelings. Mikko Lehtonen provocatively titled his presentation Camp "Freedom". Lehtonen interpreted the connections between the public sphere and mass media, pointing out how we are being governed and how our mindsets are voluntarily under constraint due to the influence of various authorities. Among the Estonian speakers were the journalists Urve Eslas, Andrei Hvostov, Juku-Kalle Raid, Ilona Martson, Kaarel Tarand, Mart Ummelas; the Chairman of Estonian Writers's Union Jan Kaus, the writers and scholars Berk Vaher, Märt Väljataga, Marek Tamm, Indrek Mesikepp, theologists Toomas Paul, Paavo Matsin; the publishers and critics Katrin Kalamees, Maire Liivamets. |
Literary Forum called for discussion about the freedom of written word
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The Literary Forum The Library of Babel, arranged in mid December in Tallinn the second year in a row, focused on the freedom of speech and the written word. The forum was organized by The Estonian Writers’ Union, the Estonian Publishers’ Union, the National Library of Estonia and the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Office in Estonia. |