Europe’s vast range of literary events includes some of the oldest and most venerated in the world. Use the search menu below to find events across the continent.
The Zagreb Book Festival was founded in 2014 by Mediart International with the aim of promoting literature, reading and multimedia creativity in Croatia and beyond. The Zagreb Book Festival is designed as a regular annual literary and cultural event in May in the city of Zagreb and brings together dozens of domestic and foreign authors. One of the festival’s goals is to empower all segments in the literary sector, from the authors themselves, through publishers and translators, to readers as end-users of books.
Croatia rediviva ča-kaj-što is a Croatian poetry event held since 1991 in July that gathers poets of all Croatian dialects. The event is based on the idea of trinitarianism of the Croatian language, and on the idea of merging all three Croatian dialects as an expression of Croatian linguistic unity. The highlight of the event is the choice of the most successful poet, who is crowned with a wreath of olive leaves.
The Festival of World Literature was founded by Fraktura Publishing House in 2013. Over seven days at the beginning of September, the Croatian cities of Zagreb and Split become centres of world literature, and places to present new titles where authors discuss their novels and many other topics in panels and round tables. The program of the festival incorporates more events every year, embodying a highly significant cultural platform on a national and international level. The events are moderated by leading literary editors, writers and critics.
Lit Link Festival is a unique festival in July, whose participants are writers, editors and publishers. The festival has been held annually in Croatia since 2013. The purpose of the festival is to connect the local literary scene with other literary scenes across the world and to work long-term on enhancing the potential for two-way translations. At each of the bilingual programs, held in Zagreb, Labin and Rijeka, authors read excerpts from their work, translated for the occasion and projected on screen in both English and Croatian.
The Sa(n)jam knjige u Istri (Book Fair(y) in Istria) is the largest fair in Croatia. Established in 1995, it gathers about 250 publishers as well as authors, editors, translators and literary critics in Pula in winter. The basis of the fair is interculturalism and the aim is to support literary exchange. The event consists of about a hundred different programs intended for audiences of all ages, and the fair continues to hold program formats that are not necessarily literary, but have, such as exhibitions, performances and concerts, become an indispensable part of the programme.
