29th BOOK FAIR(Y) IN ISTRIA
Pula Festival of Books and Authors
Theme: Life Between the Clouds
24th November – 3rd December 2023
House of Croatian Defenders
29th Book Fair(y) was intellectually thrilling, innovative, rich in content and program, authentically local, yet of broader relevance, infused with a dreamer's zeal. For ten days, everybody was walking on clouds in this realm of dreams, literally and metaphorically, as the central theme of the 29th Book Fair(y) was "Life Between the Clouds", the comic books were its focus, and the guest of honor was Milo Manara, one of the most prominent comic book authors in the world, whose exhibition "Between Comic Books, Literature and Film" opened the second day of the Fair at the Gallery space Sacred Hearts, quickly gained regional importance and earned the status of the cultural event of the year.
Apart from the ninth art, topics of new utopia and escapism were discussed, and new spaces of freedom were opened at more than 100 events that formed the program, while more than 250 guests took the stage of the Pula Festival of Books and Authors. Among the authors who left their trace in the Fair(y) chronicle of the year 2023 were Kristijan Novak, Susan Orlean, Danijel Žeželj, Anja Zag Golob, Drago Ivanuša, Rene Karabaš, Anne Weber, Mario Desiati, Mirko Ilić, Zoran Janjetov, Boban Savić, Braco Dimitrijević, Magdalena Blažević, Emir Imamović Pirke, Boris Dežulović, Darko Cvijetić, Andrej Nikolaidis, Ozren Žunec etc.
A special place in the program – "Not only because they are ours…" – was dedicated to authors from Pula that have collaborated with the Fair(y) for many years - Leonida Kovač, Andrea Matošević, Mauricio and Matija Ferlin – while the Fair was dedicated to Miroslav Bertoša, a great historian and a dear friend, to whom the Book Fair(y) and numerous audience sent farewell through the presentation of his last book "Trošenje života. Gdje li je život što ga izgubih živeći?“
The largest novelty in the program was Histrokozmos – "a fair within the fair" centered around the topic "Wine Tales". The first edition of Histrokozmos was dedicated to Franko Lukež, a Renaissance man, a visionary of the Istrian eno-gastronomical scene whose chair at the Istrian table was left empty by his early departure.
Deeply immersed in the societal, literary, artistic, and gastronomical phenomena of contemporary Istria, the multimedia program Histrokozmos also featured the program that drew the most audience at the 29th Book Fair(y) – the lecture "Dance of the Dead" by Korado Korlević, a famous astronomist and multifaceted intellectual from the Istrian town of Višnjan.
The 29th Fair(y) also left a mark on the virtual world through the new website (www.sanjamknjige.hr).
Gallery
Fair(y) Tales
Authors
Publishers
ANTROPOZOFSKO DRUŠTVO HRVATSKE „MARIJA SOFIJA“
ART RABIC – ATELJE FIGURE
DIBIDUS COMICS
EDIZIONI BIBLIOTECA DELL'IMMAGINE
ERRATA CORRIGE
HRVATSKI AUTORSKI STRIP
INSTITUT ZA KLASIČNE JEZIKE I ANTIČKU CIVILIZACIJU LATINA ET GRAECA
KATEDRA ČAKAVSKOG SABORA ŽMINJ
KRATER
LOM BOOKS
MADOO D.O.O.
MEDIA BAR
MUZEJ SUVREMENE UMJETNOSTI ISTRE – MUSEO D’ARTE CONTEMPORANEA DELL’ISTRIA
NAKLADA PELAGO
NERETVA
PARADOX
SAVEZ FEMINISTIČKIH ORGANIZACIJA „REKONEKCIJA“
UDRUGA CRTANI ROMANI ŠOU
UDRUGA STUDIOLAB
UJEDINJENI NAKLADNICI
UMJETNIČKA ORGANIZACIJA JAVNI PROSTOR
Self-published
ADRIANA BELETIĆ
ELVIR TOMINIĆ
MAJA ČERLJENKO
NEVIJA CVITKO
SILVIJE SATOLO
VANDA BREZONJIĆ
VESNA SMOKOVIĆ
VJEKOSLAV GAŠPAROVIĆ
VLADIMIRO GAGLIARDI
