This anthology has been published to mark the 500th anniversary of the Estonian-language book, with all works commissioned for this publication. To bring readers closer to the context and atmosphere in which the Estonian-language book was born, and to make the 500-year history of Estonian literature and written language easier to grasp, the organising committee of the Book Year invited the well-known Estonian writers Leelo Tungal, Urmas Vadi, Meelis Friedenthal, Indrek Hargla, and Kristiina Ehin to give the fate of our first book or the subsequent course of Estonian literary history a fictional form. The result is a multifaceted whole – Tales of the Estonian Book – made up of richly suggestive poetry, intertextual prose enriched with literary-historical touches, and narratives conveyed through the poetics and sensibility of the traditional runic song.

Hopefully this book offers surprises and moments of recognition, serves as both a cultural-historical guide and a source of reading pleasure.