Under the auspices of the President of the Republic, Josip Broz Tito, the First Yugoslav Book Fair took place in Zagreb, in the Zagreb Fair, in 1956. It was on November 3 (it lasted to November 7) and it was opened by the famous Slovenian publisher Ivan Bratko, in the presence of Rodoljub Čolaković, Vice President of the Federal Executive Council.

About 12,000 books of all Yugoslav publishers were exhibited there, but also those from Austria, Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, China, Hungary, East and West Germany, Poland, Romania, USA, the Soviet Union and Switzerland.

In addition to Miroslav Krleža and Ivo Andrić, it was attended by the best known names of the literary world of Yugoslavia of that time, and in the evening, in the Workmen's Center, in Zagreb, a literary evening was organized, under participation of Oto Bihalji Merin, Mirko Božić, Oskar Davičo, Vjekoslav Kaleb, Vesna Parun, Vasko Popa, Dragutin Tadijanović, Stevan Raičković and Milan Đoković.

Ivo Andrić was awarded the Life Performance Medallion by the Yugoslav Writers Association and Eli Finci spoke about his work. This festivity, dedicated to Ivo Andrić, took place in the Yugoslav Army Center and, on that occasion, Andrić was reading a not yet published excerpt from his work, under participation of Oskar Davičo, Vjekoslav Kaleb, Jure Kaštelan and Gane Todorovski, as well.

A catalog was printed for the Book Fair and the event organizers were Ivan Bratko, Prvoslav Trajković, Strate Arsovski and Lazo Indik.

In 1957, the Fair was moved to Belgrade, where a modern fair ground was completed, a facility the capital was proud of, as well as the whole country.

Publishers estimated that extremely good conditions for a great international book overview were created in Belgrade – Ms. Olga Divac, the Fair Ground Director, accepted the publishers' proposal with an enthusiasm.

The books were exhibited by about 60 local and 36 foreign exhibitors. It was agreed that the International Book Fair should be followed by a catalog and it should last for six days. The event took place end of October, in Belgrade Fair's Hall 3, and thew review A Book and the World was initiated on the occasion of the fair event, as well.

Rodoljub Čolaković, the Vice President of the Federal Executive Council, said, opening the event: "This Fair is important for our country also because it will contribute to the book popularity on its side and thereby also to our mutual efforts on the cultural improvement of our people... All the contents of a book - i. e. whatever the best, the cleverest people said about people, the nature, the society and the man himself – is still a secret with nine seals for many of our men...".

The participants were publishers from 16 countries in Europe, America and Asia.

Curious readers were gathered in a crowd around great writers for the first time, requesting Ivo Andrić, Dobrica Ćosić, Branko Ćopić, Oskar Davičo, Desanka Maksimović and others to sign their books.

The International Book Fair in Belgrade gathered annually an increasing number of publishers from the former Yugoslavia and the whole world, so that, after the Frankfurt and Warsaw Book Fairs, it became the largest meeting point of publishing businessmen from Europe, America, Asia and Africa. Here, in Belgrade, cultures of East and West have met ever since.

The Book Fair, as usually, was opened by respected representatives of political and public branches, and the President of the Republic, Josip Broz Tito, was a frequent visitor of the Book Fair and always supported it.

The Fifteenth International Book Fair, in 1970, was opened by the Nobel Prize Winner, Ivo Andrić. Famous writers from all republics have opened it ever since.

Radovan Popović