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 54th 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).

Opening of the Book Fair: The Fair will be opened by the writer Dragan Velikić, one of the most prominent contemporary Serbian authors, who has been among the leading ones in the Serbian prose for two decades now. In addition to the novel "Via Pula" for which he won "Miloš Crnjanski" award, and "The Russian Window" awarded, in 2008, by NIN prize and "Meša Selimović" award, he has also several novels, stories, and essays published. Velikić’s novels, stories, and essays have been translated in a dozen of foreign languages: German, French, Italian, English, Slovenian, Czech, Hungarian, Spanish, Romanian, Polish, and the Dutch language. In June 2005, he was appointed the Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia to Vienna.
In the name of the country guest of honor, Thanasis Valtinos, academician, writer, script writer, and translator will give his address at the Fair opening. He wrote numerous screenplays for films and, in 1984, he won the award for the screenplay for the film of Theo Angelopoulos "Voyage to Cythera". He translated Euripides’ "Trojan Women" and Aeschylus’ "Oresteia", the tragedies played in Technis Theater of the famous Carlos Kun. He is a member of the European Academy of Science and Arts, the Athens Academy, the Greek Association of Playwrights, and the President of the Hellenic Writers Association.
Formal opening is going to be in hall 1 of the Belgrade Fair on Monday, October 26, at 18:00 h.

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/Svetogorskog ognjišta. The rich daily program of the country guest of honor will also include lectures, shows/projections, 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 centers 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 French 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 Fora: 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 foreigner" 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

Exibitions:

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: Publisher of the Year, Publishing Undertaking of the Year, and Children’s Book of the Year.

"Dositej Obradović" Prize: Annual prize to a foreign publisher continuously contributing to the publishing and promotion of the Serbian literature.

Open Book: on the last day of the Book Fair, the Ambassador of Greece, the country guest of honor of the 54^th Belgrade International Book Fair, will ceremonially hand over the Open Book to the Ambassador of Sweden, the country guest of honor of the 55^th Belgrade International Book Fair.

Opening hours of the Book Fair: from 10:00 to 20:00 h.

Tickets: the price of individual ticket is RSD 250; for group visits, it is RSD 150 and, the price of parking is RSD 100 per hour.