Date: October 20 – 26, 2008

The Book Fair Topic: Two Centuries of the High School

The Book Fair Opening: The Fair will be opened by the writer, Mr. Dragoslav Mihailovic. On behalf of the Guest of Honor Country, the Fair Opening will be welcomed by the Japanese writer, Mr. Natsuki Ikezawa.

The Guest of Honor Country: Japan. In addition to the Guest of Honor stand, where it will feature the modern Japanese literature and publishing, Japan is preparing also an exhibition of posters on the modern Japanese architecture Kyoto, a lecture on the best known modern Japanese writer, Mr. Haruki Murakami, as well as the cycle of Japanese films in the Yugoslav Cinema Museum.

Publishers at the Book Fair: More than 800 local and international publishers will participate in the 53^rd International Belgrade Book Fair. The publishers will feature themselves at the stands in Belgrade Fair Halls 1 and 14, at the space of 13,000 square meters.

International Publishers: In addition to Japan as the Guest of Honor Country, the participants in the 53^rd International Belgrade Book Fair will be also the publishers from Canada, USA, China, Iran, Russia, Italy, UK, France, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Israel, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, Brazil and Angola. Publishers from Denmark and Ukraine participate in the Belgrade Book Fair for the first time.

EUNIC: Culture Centers of the European Union countries in Belgrade will have a mutual participation in the 53^rd International Belgrade Book Fair: the Italian Culture Center, French Culture Center, Goethe Institute, Institute Cervantes and the Austrian Culture Forum. Within the EUNIC participation, a few lectures and book/author presentations will take place there. The main topic of this year’s EUNIC participation in the Belgrade Book Fair is The Art of Living in the European Union Countries.

The Book Fair Forum:

• Five Topic Conferences on the Professional Publishing Matters in Serbia:
• Publishing Cultural Policy in Serbia
• University Publishing and Academic Writing
• Private Books – Governmental Textbooks
• The Language of Our Books
• Electronic Publishing and the Screen Culture
• The Fourth Annual Meeting of Librarians and Publishers of Serbia:
• Libraries as a Promotional Space
• The Fourth Annual Meeting of Translators and Publishers
• Exhibitions on the Hall 14 Gallery

The Greatest Modern Serbian Literature Festival: The participation of most leading modern Serbian writers has been announced within the program on their publishers' stands.

The School Day: October 23, 2008. The Fair Day dedicated to the organized visits of pupils, teachers, students and professors. The applied publishers prepare an extensive program for the School Day.

The International Belgrade Book Fair Prizes: Publisher of the Year, Publishing Project of the Year, The Best Edition, The Most Beautiful Book, The Best Book for Children, the Best Fair Presentation.

The Dostitej Obradovic Prize: The annual prize to an international publisher with a continuous and clear contribution to publishing and promotion of the Serbian literature.