The 68th International Book Fair opened in Belgrade under the slogan Your New Story, bringing together more than 400 exhibitors from 15 countries. The Republic of Srpska is among those presenting their publishing industry at the most important literary festival in this part of Europe. The appearance of Srpska’s publishers, for the 15th year in a row, was organized by the Representative Office of the Republic of Srpska in Serbia.

The fair is marked by significant anniversaries – 110 years since the birth of Branko Ćopić, 200 years since the birth of Branko Radičević, and half a century since the death of Ivo Andrić.

This year, Srpska’s publishing industry will once again be presented in the best possible way. The slogan of the appearance Beware, my people, of taking the wrong turn was borrowed from Jovan Dučić.

‘We will present one hundred and thirty-seven works by 129 authors at our stand, we will have 55 promotions, we will present 46 publishers from Srpska at this fair event,’ said Mlađen Cicović, head of the Representative Office.

The Institute for Textbooks and Teaching Aids Istočno Sarajevo is presenting itself with more than 200 publications, and the University of Istočno Sarajevo offers 247 titles to the reading public.

‘As representative examples, we can cite our literary awards, Zlatna Sova for the best unpublished novel and Zlatna Sovica for the best unpublished children’s novel, said Gorica Ždrale from the Textbooks and Teaching Aids Institute Istočno Novo Sarajevo.

The Andrić Institute will present 16 new publications of the Department of Literature, History and Social Sciences.

‘One of the interesting titles is Ime Republike Srpske by Mićo Rezniček; we also have linguistic titles and the historical title The Great Patriotic War – a masterpiece on Russian history that has not been translated here before,’ said Željka Ostojić from the Andrić Institute.

After the opening ceremony, Srpska’s stand was visited also by Nikola Selaković, Minister of Culture in Serbian Government, and the ambassadors of BiH, Tunisia, Iran and Palestine.

The writer Kyriakos Charalambidis spoke at the opening on behalf of Cyprus, the country that is this year’s guest of honor at the Fair, and after the opening ceremony, he visited Srpska’s stand together with the Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Istočno Sarajevo, Prof. Dr. Vladan Bartula.

Source and photo: Republic of Srpska Representative Office in Serbia