13th BOOK FAIR(Y) IN ISTRIA
Pula Festival of Books and Authors

Theme: The Other Balkans

6th – 15th December 2007
House of Croatian Defenders

A dance performance directed by Matija Ferlin opened the 13th Book Fair(y) in Istria. With an impressive choreography and even more impressive costumes, Ferlin introduced to the numerous audience the focal point of the Fair – the Balkans, or to be exact, The Other Balkans – the one devoid of myth and prejudice. In honor of this theme, a new program titled Balcanic (Op)Sessions was established. Over the course of three days, an array of renowned writers, sociologists, politicians, anthropologists, and other prominent guests participated in the program, such as Andrej Nikolaidis, Aleš Debeljak, Katarina Luketić, Aleksandar Prokopiev, Ivan Čolović, Ljiljana Filipović, Aleksandar Kjosev, Nermin Sarajlić, Elizabeta Šeleva, Beqëa Cufaj, Ermis Lafazanovski, Srđa Pavlovića, Andra Pisac and Žarko Paić. The fact that a bus full of philosophy students arrived in Pula just because of the Balkans testifies to the attractiveness of the topic.

This year, for the first time in Pula, a gathering of publishers and authors from Southeastern Europe was organized. It was initiated by the prominent German foundation S. Fisher Stiftung, whose large delegation, along with the delegation of the Leipzig Book Fair, stayed in Pula for a few days. The media conference of the Fair's German friends will be remembered by the announcement of a three-year cooperation between Leipzig and Croatia, to start in March 2008, and the founding of the international circle of Book Fair(y)'s friends that encompassed German, Austrian, Croatian, Bosnian and other guests.

The cooperative program between the Book Fair(y) in Istria and the Festival of Storytelling Pričigin from Split gathered around ten storytellers and a hundred visitors over the course of two days.

The second edition, or 0.2 Festival Polis-Jadran Europa lasted for three days; American-Croatian author Josip Novaković taught a creative writing course, and thirteen Cyclopes were awarded in the Rock Club Uljanik.