This year’s London Book Fair (Earls Court, April 8-10), hosted a Croatian National stand for the second year running. Joining us for this great occasion, were a number of writers, editors and translators from the Croatian and international literary scene, among them Daša Drndic, shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize for 2013 for her novel ‘Trieste’ (which won the parallel Independent Foreign Fiction Readers’ Prize) and Dinko Telecan, writer of a poetry, prose and essays who translated and edited over 60 books. This year"s programme of participation was organized by the Croatian Ministry of Culture and the Croatian Association of Writers in cooperation n with British publishers „Istros Books“ and with the support of the British Croatian Society and Croatian Embassy in London.
First day of the Fair, delegation from the Ministry of Culture headed by the assistant minister of culture Tamara Perišic, Milan Živkovic, advisor to the minister and Nevena Tudor Perkovic, head of international cultural department , as well as the Croatian Ambassador to the United Kingdom dr. sc. Ivan Grdešic visited the Fair.
A number of discussions and events were organized at the stand and at outside venues aimed at promoting Croatian literature in the UK. Amongst them the lecture 2Croatia - perspectives of lesser used languages in world literature”, held by Richard Nash, world known independent publishing entrepreneur.
After the lecture, Ivan Sršen, Croatian publisher and literary agent, presented the “Lit Link” festival and describe the advantages of such form of a literary event through which the connection between languages happens at the spot, joining writers, editors and publishers all at one place.
Following the day at the fair, a special event entitled ‘Croatian Short Story Welcome Party’ was held at The Grove Bar & Restaurant in Hammersmith. In cooperation with „The Special Relationship“and „Comma Press“ three writers from the UK and Croatia were presented reading their own work: Edo Popovic, Roman Simic Bodrožic and Lucy Caldwell.
Additionally, on the April 9th, Croatian Embassy in London hosted a literary discussion at the Europe House themed: ‘‘Literary Quartet’ - An Evening celebrating writing from Croatia”. Croatian Ambassador dr. sc. Ivan Grdešic welcomed the guests pointing out that that this is the second year in a row that Croatian writers are participating on this prestigious fair. Ambassador said that we are looking forward to introducing the Croatian literature to the British public which is already very familiar with Croatia as a great tourist destination. In this way we are hoping to add substance to their experience of Croatia and further develop Croatian brand in the UK. The event was chaired by the writer, literary criticand scholar Nikola Petkovic featuring two established Croatian authors together with two prominent up-coming authors. Daša Drndic and Edo Popovic, both prize-winning writers and long-term members of Croatia"s literary scene, were joined by relative new-comers, Dinko Telecan and Kristian Novak, to exchange ideas about their work and their experiences. The evening was a chance to sample their prose, with live author readings followed by the networking with authors where the hope was expressed for the continuation of the cooperation and reunion next year.
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