The "Avots" Language Festival - Positive Change through Language!

The “Avots” Language Festival will bring linguistic joy to the wintry Riga, Avoti neighborhood, on the 1st and 2nd of February. Linguists and other interesting people will delight you and make you think about the meaning of language in everyday life from a historical perspective with lectures, talks, workshops, concerts, and literature readings on various linguistic topics.

The festival aims to talk in a popular scientific way about themes that shape human thinking today, such as inclusion through language and minority languages. The international festival brings guests from Finland, Norway, Sweden and Estonia.

The main theme is the individual and society on the first day, Saturday, February 1st. The evening will also include the presentation of the first Language Prize and the world premiere of the “Grammar Suite” by composer Edgars Cirulis.

The second day, Sunday, February 2nd, focuses on lesser-used languages. Here, you can learn about the situation of minority languages in Northern Europe, including how things are going with Latgalian and Livonian in Latvia, Võro in Estonia, Swedish in Finland, and Nynorsk in Norway. The day will conclude with the presentation of the digital exhibition “Linguapolis” and the opening of the translation into Latgalian of a book by Norwegian Nobel Laureate Jon Fosse.

The festival will take place at the Ģertrūdes Street Theatre. There will be delicious food for sale, book tables, exhibitions, and fun activities for young and old.