18th BOOK FAIR(Y) IN ISTRIA
Pula Festival of Books and Authors

Theme: Mediterranean | Black and White Sea

30th November – 9th December 2012
House of Croatian Defenders

For the first time in history, the Pula Festival of Books and Authors centered around the topic of Mediterranean – Black and White Seas had a "night opening“. The Minister of Culture, Andrea Zlatar Violić, reminded the audience that Pula – for an apparent reason – was a candidate for the World Book Capital. Turkish writers Ayfer Tunç and Ece Temelkuran made a toast and pointed out that "the nations are brought together mainly through culture and art“.

The multi-layered program of the Fair entailed both the events dedicated to the central theme and those that render it the most significant literary event in this part of Europe: Mediterranean – Black and White Sea: Turkey and Italy, The Other Coast/ L’altra Costa, Sea Thieves, Berti's Program: Love at Second Sight, Authors From the Neighbourhood, Book Fair(y) in the Library, The Invisible Book, A Talk Behind the Curtain, Unearthed Istria, Twilight Reading…

That year, the largest number of foreign authors participated in the Fair, 25 from 8 countries. Along with the Turkish (Ece Temelkuran, Ayfer Tunç, Nedim Gürsel, Murat Uyurkulak), Italian (Jole Zanetti, Claudio Magris, Giorgio Pressburger, Luca Doninelli, Enrico Palandri), and regional authors from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro, the authors from Portugal, Hungary and Austria visited Pula.

On the last day of the 18th Book Fair(y) in Istria, the Kiklop (Cyclops) Award Ceremony for the year 2012 took place. Kiklop was awarded in 13 categories, including the Lifetime Achievement Award given to Mirko Kovač.