Novo Mesto Summer Evenings: Life or Theatre
As part of the Novo Mesto Summer Evenings festival, Goga Publishing House invites you to the literary evening Life or Theatre, taking place on Thursday, 23 July 2026, at 8.00 pm.
LIFE OR THEATRE; VINKO MÖDERNDORFER AND CARMEN L. OVEN / LITERARY EVENING
Vinko Möderndorfer lives entirely through art. Yet he is equally immersed in the world around him. “The world must be everything for theatre to be something,” he once wrote. He is one of those rare artists who cannot be confined to a single role: novelist, poet, playwright, theatre director and essayist—above all, a keen observer of the world, which he has been transforming into art for decades.
In Life or Theatre, he returns to the questions that have accompanied him throughout his life: what it means to create, how to live with art, and what theatre can tell us about the world. These essays are not merely reflections on art but also a deeply personal and authentic testimony from someone who has always lived simultaneously in theatre and in life.
The event will take place at the festival venue in the Main Square, in front of Goga Bookshop.
NOVO MESTO SUMMER EVENINGS
Throughout July and August, Novo Mesto welcomes some of Slovenia’s leading writers, poets and musicians. Alongside literature, the festival also explores wider social issues. With Novo Mesto Summer Evenings, Goga brings a vibrant programme of cultural events to the town. Every book, every conversation with authors, is a celebration of Slovenian literature, the written word and the power of ideas.
FESTIVAL PROGRAMME 2026
- Wednesday, 9 July 2026, 8.00 pm – Kitchen of the Poor
- Monday, 14 July 2026, 8.00 pm – Prešeren, Censorship and the Turbulent Nineteenth Century
- Wednesday, 16 July 2026, 8.00 pm – Between Crime Fiction, Music and Comics
- Wednesday, 16 July 2026, 9.00 pm – Vlado Kreslin (concert)
- Friday, 18 July 2026, 10.00 am – Absolutely Nothing (puppet performance for children)
- Tuesday, 21 July 2026, 8.00 pm – Oma and the Spruce, Thousands of Years
- Wednesday, 23 July 2026, 8.00 pm – Life? or Theatre?
- Friday, 25 July 2026, 10.00 am – The Magical Birthday (puppet performance for children)
- Wednesday, 30 July 2026, 8.00 pm – Enlightened Novo Mesto
- Saturday, 1 August 2026, 9.00 pm – Ana Pupedan (concert)
- Friday, 8 August 2026, 10.00 am – Mirror, Mirror (puppet performance for children)
- Tuesday, 11 August 2026, 8.00 pm – Contemporary Slovenian Science Fiction
- Monday, 17 August 2026, 8.00 pm – Loveliness
- Wednesday, 19 August 2026, 8.00 pm – Contemporary World Poetry
- Thursday, 20 August 2026, 8.00 pm – Winter in Sokč
- Saturday, 22 August 2026, 10.00 am – Goldilocks and the Three Bears (puppet performance for children)
