Creating and reinventing a nation: experience from other countries

On 7–8 December, 2023, an international scientific conference "Publishing and the Nation" was held at the National Library of Latvia. The conference was part of the "Latvian Book 500" series and was dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the prominent publisher Ansis Gulbis (1873–1936). It stimulated discussion on book publishing as a cornerstone of a nation's culture, focusing on the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when the establishment of professional book publishing in the Baltic Sea region nations began.
www.gramatai500.lv/en/post/confere…-and-the-nation
Piret Lotman. Estonian perception of history in the final years of Tsarist Russia: writers and publishers of historical books

Melinda Simon. Hungarian copyright protection in the late 19th and early 20th centuries

Loreta Vinclovienė and Veronika Girininkaitė. The work at the bookshop owned by Marija and Jurgis Šlapelis in Vilnius in 1906–1949

Andreas Hedberg. Re-inventing the nation: patriotism and book design in Sweden at the turn of the century 1900

Session moderated by Mārtiņš Mintaurs

The conference was organised by the National Library of Latvia within the framework of the series of events "Latvian Book 500" with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia and the State Culture Capital Foundation.