Gatvių susitikimai (Eng. Meetings of the Streets)
WRITTEN AND ILLUSTRATED BY MONIKA VAICENAVIČIENĖ & AGNĖ ULYTĖ • ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN LITHUANIAN BY AUKSO ŽUVYS IN FEBRUARY 2020
A city is a place where different stories, memories, experiences, legends, visions, dreams meet. Names of steets are like windows into the different layers of history. Just imagine – what would streets talk about when they meet at a junction?
AWARDS
Best Book about Vilnius - The Vilnius Club Award 2021
Most Beautiful Children's Book in Lithuania - 2020
Gatvių susitikimai. O kas, jeigu Vilniaus gatvės šnekėtųsi? (Eng. Meeting of the Streets: What If Streets of Vilnius Talked) is a book of comics, observations and short essays, exploring the map of Vilnius and the narratives created by geography.
The book takes the reader on a tour through all the elderships of Vilnius. Locals and newcomers; those from the past and those from recent times; rulers, workers, scientists, writers, artists, musicians, craftsmen, politicians, patrons, warriors; people of different languages and religions; those that had lived a long age and those that perished in battles; nations, tribes, families; children and old men; gods, goddesses and all kinds of magical creatures; towns, villages, buildings; rivers, lakes, mountains, plants, animals, constellations; feelings – all meet in the map of streets and has a lot to tell.
The comics are snippets of imaginary conversations between two or more characters after which the intersecting streets are named. They are followed by short commentaries, introducing the reader to broader contexts of the characters and their possible conversation topics.
I have created this book together with my sister Agnė. We have grown up in Vilnius, and its diverse heritage of stories and legends is an important part of our background.
