# Is "The Festival of Insignificance" by Milan Kundera a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Festival of Insignificance by Milan Kundera (Harper, 2015) is identified by: First US edition, Harper (an imprint of HarperCollins), New York, 2015, translated from the French by Linda Asher (ISBN 978-0-06-235689-5, interior designed by Fritz Metsch). First English translation of La fete de l'insignifiance (Gallimard, published in France in April 2014); the English text carries a 2013 copyright for the underlying work.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First US edition, Harper (an imprint of HarperCollins), New York, 2015, translated from the French by Linda Asher (ISBN 978-0-06-235689-5, interior designed by Fritz Metsch)
- The copyright page carries the 'FIRST EDITION' statement together with a descending printer's number line ending in 1; the first-issue dust jacket should retain its printed cover price
- This is a slim novella of roughly 115 pages
- Publisher imprint reads Harper
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Milan Kundera |
| Publisher | Harper |
| Year | 2015 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First US edition, Harper (an imprint of HarperCollins), New York, 2015, translated from… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
First US edition, Harper (an imprint of HarperCollins), New York, 2015, translated from the French by Linda Asher (ISBN 978-0-06-235689-5, interior designed by Fritz Metsch). The copyright page carries the 'FIRST EDITION' statement together with a descending printer's number line ending in 1; the first-issue dust jacket should retain its printed cover price. This is a slim novella of roughly 115 pages.

## Is this the true first?
First English translation of La fete de l'insignifiance (Gallimard, published in France in April 2014); the English text carries a 2013 copyright for the underlying work. The French Gallimard printing therefore precedes the English-language first, and the US Harper and UK Faber & Faber editions both appeared in 2015.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No notable book-club edition.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Festival of Insignificance* by Milan Kundera a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-festival-of-insignificance
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-03.