Slovenian Theatre Publishers

A book fair

The Slovenian Theatre Publishers network was established in 2016 to connect Slovenian organisations that publish professional and academic literature in the field of performing arts. Their initial goal was to achieve greater visibility at large publishing events, such as the Slovenian Book Fair and Slovenian Book Days. In time, they realised that despite the specifics of their publishing programmes, they are similar in content and production and share the same pool of readers. As publishers, they are further connected through their minority position in the publishing market: theatre publishers’ programming policies often introduce the invisible, marginalised and niche contents that have to fight for survival alongside different populist topics. Thus, their sheer perseverance contributes significantly to the expansion of the publishing landscape. Indeed, within this stance lies something fundamentally political. 

Another thing they have in common is that, as theatre publishers, they are not exclusively publishers but parts of comprehensive systems operating under the umbrella of institutions that are also producers, archivists, festival organisers and educators in the field of performing arts. They must therefore carve their space in publishing and fight for it over and over. Their collaboration is increasingly more intertwined contentwise yet still manages to retain their fundamental differences. They see the common future in the separate strategic studying of the heterogeneity of performing practices and their interdisciplinary connections. 

In addition to the Documents collection, the Slovene Theatre Annual and Amfiteater Journal of Performing Arts Theory (co-published with the UL AGRFT), the Slovenian Theatre Institute (SLOGI), also publishes monographs about theatre artists, movements and phenomena. The MGL Library Book Collection, which is a part of the Ljubljana City Theatre, publishes original and translated works in the fields of contemporary theatre, dance, performance art and other stage arts. They also research approaches to archiving and historicising Slovenian theatre practice. Maska Institute’s book programme consists of the series TRANSformations, Mediactions and Special editions, each in its own way covering the broad and diverse field of contemporary performing arts, from theatre, contemporary dance and ballet to performance, multimedia and new media arts and social and political theory. The publishing activities of Emanat Institute consist of the series Transitions, Transitions XS and Kamizdat. They are dedicated to original and translated works in fields that in various – even only potential – ways intertwine with dance. The Maribor Theatre Festival, along with program publications, has been publishing the Borštnik Ring edition since 2018 and occasionally special and occasional book editions. The Borštnik Ring collection is dedicated to an in-depth presentation of the recipients of the most important and prestigious Slovenian award for lifetime achievements in acting – the Borštnik Ring Award.