Lithuanian publisher Aukso žuvys has incorporated the idea of time travel into their project Passengers in time – a new book series featuring eight contemporary European authors and their stories based on historical events. The project is based on the notion that reading about history makes you to travel in time, be it pagan times in Estonia, a World War I scene in Italy, a medieval university hall in Livonia or a Soviet flat in Latvia. Passengers in time want to build bridges between European countries and time periods, open doors to new experiences and make us see history from very different perspectives. In other words, travelling in time with the help of books.
The project is sponsored and supervised by The Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) of the European Commission. Their mission is to share cultural content across borders, which is a perfect match to the Passengers in time project. The plan is to translate and publish eight books during a two-year-period.
The book collection includes five novels, one graphic novel, one book for young adults and one collection of short stories, and they all embrace the idea of sharing historical stories with the help of eloquent language. Other criteria for the project are diversity, introducing new authors to the Lithuanian audience and of course literature of good quality.
“We wanted more diversity in our literature”, says Sigita Pūkienė, owner and manager of publisher Aukso žuvys. “All authors are translated and published in Lithuanian for the first time, and we have chosen the most celebrated authors in their home countries. One of them, Estonian author Melis Friedenthal, has even won the EU Prize for Literature.
Aukso žuvys is a publisher who chooses paper with great consideration. Actually, most of their published books are unique – with different, eye-catching design every time and using different paper grades.
The Passengers in time project is not an exception”, claims Daiva Mažvilaitė Varnienė, backseller at Antalis. ”The spine of the book is designed so that when you have collected the entire series, you will have a nice image in your book shelf. And on the cover’s backside, you can find notes like “4 hours of journey”, so you know from the start for how long the pleasant reading will last.”
Daiva Mažvilaitė Varnienė is a passionate paper promotor, and she loves to challenge her customers in their paper choice. In the case of Passengers in time, the publisher was very determined and knew exactly what she wanted. It had to be a paper with a natural and rough surface with excellent brightness, thick but still light-weight. This made the recommendation easy for Daiva.
“Holmen BOOK matches most of these parameters. But when we talk about brightness – Holmen BOOK Extra is king”, she concludes.