Aušrinė Žilinskienė

Director General of the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania from 15 April 2024.

From 2023 to 2024, A. Žilinskienė worked as a Project Manager at the Lithuanian Audiosensory Library, where she implemented a project to develop an inclusive publishing system in Lithuania.
From 2014 to 2022, she was the head of the Lithuanian Culture Institute, responsible for the dissemination and representation of Lithuanian culture and art abroad, and together with her team, she implemented Lithuanian Culture Seasons in Krakow (Poland), Tel Aviv (Israel), Rome (Italy), Bavaria (Germany), Ukraine, and organised Lithuania’s presentations at the international book fairs in London and Leipzig, among others.
In 2011-2014, together with the Lithuanian Artists’ Association, a project involving 600 Lithuanian schools and 200 artists was implemented – artists visited Lithuanian schools and taught art lessons to schoolchildren.
From 2001 to 2010, she was the director of the public institution “Lithuanian Books”. In 10 years, A. Žilinskienė managed to develop a strategy and practice for the dissemination of Lithuanian literature abroad. The largest and most successful project was the literary programme for the presentation of Lithuania as a guest of honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2002.

Education

2000 – Vilnius University, Master’s degree in German Linguistics

1997 – Klaipėda University, Bachelor’s degree in German Philology

From 2020 – Council member of the Maironis’ Museum of Lithuanian Literature, Kaunas

From 2008 – Member of the Curatorial Board of the Thomas Mann Cultural Centre, Nida

From 2023 – Expert member of the Lithuanian Council for Culture

2020-2022 – Member of the Board of Directors of the EU National Institutes for Culture, Brussels

In 2003 the President of the Republic of Lithuania awarded A. Žilinskienė the Knight’s Cross of the Order “For Merits to Lithuania”