Opening of the 54^th Belgrade Book Fair

Writer Dragan Velikić opened the 54^th Belgrade Book Fair.

Dragan Velikić - Speech on the occasion of opening of the 54^th Book Fair
in Belgrade on 26/10/2009

"Nowadays, bookstores are either being closed or they hold out as grocery stores across Serbia. Despite that, the Belgrade Book Fair is a bookstore that not only holds out, but grows year in year out, becoming an increasingly important destination so much to writers and readers, as to the publishers from all over the region. And without statistics, which provides us with impressive numbers, it is obvious that, in Serbia, there is a week in a year when book indeed is the event that is second to none. Flows of visitors corroborate that, even when they come because the rules of "polite" middle-class behavior prescribe that, by the end of October, it is mandatory to walk through the Fair halls, among books. After all, even a glance at a book is an encounter with a book. And every such encounter represents an open door, an opportunity to get to know a different world, to enrich one's own.

In such an atmosphere, is there room for the statement that book is commodity?

Yes, because even if we tried to enumerate all the occupations without which books as products would not exist, in bookstores and at fairs, in libraries and at homes, in kiosks and on shelves in supermarkets, we could hardly manage to make the full list without omitting an occupation. There are editors, publishers and printers, programmers, booksellers and language editors, drivers, warehousemen, traders and accountants, travelling salesmen, designers and photographers, and who knows how many more ancillary occupations. And all of them are supposed to live on books. Because of that natural human need to live, among so many hands employed in transferring the books from writers to readers, the inevitable happened: a book has become a commodity. Under the current conditions of ours, the only ones, who do not live on books, but with books, are writers and translators. And readers as well.

We must not forget, a book is the most important venue of encounter with contemporaries of different opinions, ideas, and occupations; with other cultures; with those who lived yesterday, ten, a hundred or a thousand years ago; with everything that has existed and with everything that may exist at all times and all territories. Through such communication, one acquires the wealth that cannot be taken away by any world economic crisis. Thanks to such an experience, readers build their own universes, they break free from the captivity of the first person plural, see through manipulation, do not agree to be just numbers, bear their own names and family names. Not the ones acquired at birth, but the ones that designate individuals who think for themselves. That road is long, and it cannot be negotiated without a doubt. And only the reader, who, through a long mileage of the books read forms his/her taste, may be the measure of a certain culture. Equally as writers who write for such readers; who are such readers themselves. Without whom there would be no literature, the literature that is not valued by the units of measure for commodities or profit. There are more of both than it seems at first sight. They are elusive to statistics, because they are exterritorial.

Because of them, book will remain something much bigger and much more valuable than ordinary commodities.

I declare the 54^th Belgrade Book Fair opened."

Greek academic Thanasis Valtinos represented this year's country guest of honour – Greece.

This evening is nice and I am happy to be here, among friends, predominantly lovers of literary art at that. I am particularly glad because, at this year's Belgrade International Book Fair, the country guest of honor is actually Greece. I sincerely thank you for such an honor.

For historical reasons, we, the Greeks, have always fostered good connections, friendly relations with the Serbs, even in difficult times. The most important reason for that may be Orthodoxy. A factor of religion, a spiritual reason. Connections that are rooted in such reasons are always very strong. Equally important reason is certainly art, particularly literature. Book, or literature, is not just a way of mutual familiarization and understanding between people through their respective languages, it goes much deeper; it answers many questions or at least brings man face to face with his dimension of fate, without limitations and as a whole, which is also immanent to religion.

Within the next several days, in the festive spirit, acquaintances will be made, contacts will be established, contracts will be signed, not of marriage, but literary ones, which certainly does not diminish the seductive character every festivity has, because art, and particularly literature, is always the expression of love.

With theses words, which I do not want any of us to forget, we are formally opening this year's Book Fair with ever-present wishes to have many more translated works."

54^th Belgrade International Book Fair

The Time Period: In the new time period from October 26 to November 1 2009.

New exhibition concept: This year, the 54^th Belgrade International Book Fair is organized on a new concept, which implies a better laid out fair presentation and a larger exhibiting space. Current international and domestic publishing production, presentation of authors, promotions, and other accompanying programs of the publishers have been planned by exhibiting blocks.

In hall 1 of the Belgrade Fair, apart from the country guest of honor, there will also be the domestic and foreign publishers - exclusively with their own editions.
Domestic and foreign publishers and bookstores will be located on the ground floor of hall 4 (the former hall 14) while antiquarian and second-hand books will be on the gallery of this hall.
Government institutions and establishments will present their respective publishing productions and projects in hall 1a (the former hall 5).
National presentations and foreign publishers, the publishers whose main activity is education, the publishers of textbooks and professional literature will be located in hall 2a.

On the area of 31,055 gross square meters, over 800 publishers from the country and abroad will present themselves.

Topic: A Sea of Books
Every written book is a drop in the ocean, an islet in an archipelago. Just at the Belgrade Book Fair, every one of 150,000 readers finds a book with which he/she sets sail towards the horizon. At the era of the financial downturn, let us lie back and enjoy the high tide of books...
This year, at the Book Fair, those who love written words will be offered numerous encounters with writers and authors, discussions about cultural rapports and differences between two countries (Greece and Serbia) and two climes (the Balkans and the Mediterranean) as well as meetings with the authors of two intertwined media (literature and comic strip).

The country guest of honor: Greece. Apart from the stand of the guest of honor, which will be organized in eight thematic blocks in order to provide the best possible insight in the contemporary publishing activity of Greece, the country guest of honor will in its amphitheater, within the cultural program, present 12 contemporary Greek writers as well as the publishing activities of six publishing houses, among them the Greek National Museum of Contemporary Art and of the Mt. Athos Hearth. The rich daily program of the country guest of honor will also include lectures, shows, workshops for children, performances: "From Gods to People" and "... And on My Feet I Have Paper Shoes", 3D shows of the Hellenic World Foundation as well as activities of the Hellenic Foundation for Culture in Belgrade.

Publishers from Abroad: Apart from Greece as the country guest of honor, the publishers from Sweden, Japan, Canada, China, Russia, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Israel, Brazil, Iran, Angola, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Srpska, and Montenegro will participate at this year's Book Fair.

EUNIC: The cultural cen¬ters from the countries of the European Union in Belgrade will have a joint appearance at the 54^th Belgrade International Book Fair: the Hellenic Foundation for Culture, the Austrian Cultural Forum, the Fren¬ch Cultural Center, Goethe Institute, Institute Cervantes, and the Italian Cultural Center. Within EUNIC appearance, several lectures will be delivered, presentations of books and authors, movie shows, a concert, and quiz show for the visitors of the Book Fair will be organized.
Book Fair Forum: This year as well, five thematic conferences will be organized about the issues of professional publishing in Serbia, development strategies in book creation and presentation as well as of the topical cultural phenomena. With the participation of writers, editors, publishers, university professors, journalists, hot topics and possible polemics, every day of the Fair at noon!

Chatting Force: Afternoon Chats of Authors with Readers
From 16 hours IMAGES FROM THE NEIGHBOURHOOD – writers from the region, critics, and theoreticians will talk with readers about their intimate experiences from encounters of cultures, about their position "being between" languages, cultures, and mentalities. The renowned writer, the winner of Koshut prize, Laszlo Vegel, the Ukraine Slavicist Ala Tatarenko, and the most widely read contemporary Croatian author Miljenko Jergovic will be the guests of Gojko Bozovic in the relaxed atmosphere of "Borislav Pekic" hall.
From 18 hours IMAGES OF SERBIA – The Serbian writers are seeking for an answer to the question whether a domestic writer is the "domestic stranger" who is constantly putting to the test the values with which he/she has grown up. Vida Ognjenovic, Vladislav Bajac, Igor Marojevic, and others talk to Aleksandar Glovacki in "Borislav Pekic" hall.

Between Two Fairs: Magic of the invisible, what has slipped our attention between two Octobers? Capital projects, jubilees, encounters. A unique multimedia walk through the novel of Mirjana Djurdjevic "Kaja, Belgrade, and a Good American" on Saturday at 15 hours!

Comic Strip Workshops: An absolute novelty at the Book Fair is opening of the comic strip workshop at which we shall monitor how the comic strip sails through belles lettres, film, and other media, the theory and mass culture, with the participation of writers, comic strip artists, publishers. With the guests, the renowned strip author Jamie Delano from Great Britain, and the domestic forces Aleks Gajic, Dejan Ognjanovic, Borislav Stanojevic, and Bane Kerc with the navigation (facilitation) by Drasko Roganovic, every day in a specially designed strip hall from 13 hours - panels, lectures, promotions, and special presents for visitors!

Poetry and the Environment: We are presenting the guests of the Fair, the respected Slavicist Manfred Jenihen, the Italian poetess Gabriela Museti, and the Polish poetess Ewa Lipska.

The Fifth Annual Encounter of Librarians: The Reader in a New Technological Environment

Exhibitions:

The Biggest Festival of Contemporary Serbian Literature: Participation of the majority of the leading contemporary Serbian writers has been announced within the programs at the stands of their respective publishers.

School Day: October 29, 2009, the Fair day dedicated to organized visits by pupils, elementary and secondary school teachers, students, and professors. Publishers are preparing special thought-provoking programs intended for pupils, students, and teachers/professors.

Awards/prizes of the Belgrade International Book Fair: In addition to the  traditional awards for publishing, "Dositej Obradović" prize will be awarded, which is each year awarded to a foreign publisher continuously contributing to the publishing and promotion of the Serbian literature.

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