For the first time in the history of Lithuanian literature, the Lithuanian Audiosensory Library has published a book of fiction for adults in an easy language, the novel “My name is Marytė" by Alvydas Šlepikas.
"People having intellectual disabilities have never been identified as “real” readers," says Inga Davidonienė, director of the Lithuanian Audiosensory Library (LAB). “They were encouraged to read stories for children, but this was an affront to their dignity, because they are adults, interested in the same topics as the general public. Already in the title of the book, the correction had to be done: "is" was introduced to make the language easy to understand, as the meaning of the hyphen in the original title might not be clear to the target audience."
On 19 January, LAB’s team visited the “Arka” community in Kaunas, where its members shared that they were especially looking forward to books about sports, aviation and... history. So "My name is Marytė", we believe, is already finding its readers here!”
"The initiative of the project's organisers was very much in line with my own goal. I deliberately wrote the book "My name – Marytė" in a certain form: in short episodes, in clear sentences, I tried to have a lot of action, to reveal a broad context, but with fewer words," said the author Alvydas Šlepikas. “I wanted both teenagers and older people to read it. When I met the "wolf children", when I understood what they had been through, I wanted as many people as possible to know about it as soon as possible." And his vision is coming true - the experience of the “wolf children” will be shared with a community of previously undiscovered readers.
Statistics show that 20 per cent of the public is interested in books in easy- to-read language. More in “Panorama's” report at https://fb.watch/pIBu4zdvVE/
A printed book in easy language will soon reach more than 300 social care homes and day-care centres in the country, as well as libraries. And we invite you to meet us and talk about "My Name is Marytė" at the Vilnius Book Fair!
The publication of the book in an easy language was partly financed by the Lithuanian Council for Culture and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania.
The book was written in easy language by Justina Bružaitė-Liseckienė, illustrated by Antanas Skučas, and proofread by Dominykas Baškys, Inga Olševskytė, Rūta Latvytė, with the help of Miglė Baltrūnaitė.
