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Belgrade Book Fair

Book fair held annually in Belgrade, Serbia

Book fair held annually in Belgrade, Serbia

FieldValue
nameBelgrade Book Fair
imageFile:Belgrade Book Fair 4.jpg
image_size250px
captionExhibition Hall in Belgrade Fairground
statusActive
genreMulti-genre
venueBelgrade Fair grounds
locationBelgrade
countrySerbia
first
attendance184,532 (2019)
frequencyAnnually, in mid-October
website

The International Belgrade Book Fair is a book fair held annually in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. One of the oldest literary events in the region, its basic objective is enabling publishers, authors, booksellers, librarians, book distributors, multimedia companies and other participants to establish contacts, exchange experiences, do business deals and establish other forms of business and cultural cooperation. All publishers from Serbia and the most prominent ones from the region feature at the Fair their annual publishing production.

In addition to the publishing program, an extensive side event one is organized at the Fair, as well: conferences, round table conferences, meetings with authors, public discussion panels and workshops. For the visitors, the Book Fair is an opportunity to find at one place and buy at special prices the books they are interested in, as well as to meet their favorite authors and discover the new ones, attending one of many programs.

The Book Fair is the most visited cultural event in Serbia. In 2019, there were 184,532 visitors at the Fair. Based upon the organizer's data, in 2019, the Fair was followed by 1,300 accredited journalists.

According to a research conducted by the Strategic Marketing among Belgrade citizens in 2010, the Book Fair was proclaimed the greatest brand of Belgrade.

On the occasion of the Anniversary – sixty years since its founding, Belgrade Book Fair is the winner of the award of the Cultural and Educational Community of Belgrade The Golden Link 2015 for the permanent contribution to Belgrade culture.

The Belgrade Book Fair was set up by the City of Belgrade, it is managed by the Book Fair Council and the Executive Organizer is the company Belgrade Fair. The Fair is traditionally held in October, in Belgrade Fair Halls 1, 1A, 2 and 4, at the space of about 30,000 square meters and it lasts for eight days.

In 2025, Belgrade Book Fair will take place from October 18 to 26.

History

The first Yugoslav Book Fair was held in 1956, at Zagreb Fair, under the auspices of the President Josip Broz Tito. It was attended by the most important writers of the country, among them also Ivo Andrić and Miroslav Krleža. About 12,000 books of all Yugoslav publishers were displayed there, but also of those from Austria, Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands, UK, France, Italy, China, Hungary, East and West Germany, Poland, Romania, US, Soviet Union and Switzerland.

In the following year, 1957, the Fair was moved to Belgrade, where the construction of a modern fair ground was completed. The books were displayed by about 60 local and 36 international publishers, from 16 countries in Europe, America and Asia. It was agreed that the International Book Fair should include the catalog and last for six days. The Fair was held at the end of October, in Belgrade Fair Hall 3 and on the occasion of the Fair festivity, the Book and the World magazine was initiated, as well. The first Belgrade Book Fair was opened by Mr. Rodoljub Čolaković, the Vice President of the Federal Executive Council at that time.

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 the publishing staff from Europe, America, Asia and Africa. The East and West cultures met in Belgrade and still meet there.

Prizes

Customers looking at books

Several prizes are awarded during the Belgrade Book Fair: Publisher of the Year, Publishing Project of the Year, The Best Children’s Book, The Most Beautiful Book, The Most Beautiful Children’s Book, The Best Young Book Designer, The Best Publisher from the Diaspora, Special Recognition for the Contribution within Science. All publishers from Serbia and Diaspora being exhibitors at the Fair may compete for the prizes.

In addition to these prizes, the Dositej Obradović Prize has also been awarded since 2007, to an international publisher, for his continuous contribution to publishing and promotion of Serbian literature. So far, the Prize winners were the Austrian publisher Wieser Verlag from Klagenfurt (2007), French publisher Gaia Editions from Bordeaux (2008), Hungarian publisher Jelenkor from Pécs (2009), Italian publisher Zandonai from Rovereto (2010), Bulgarian publisher Siela from Sofia (2011) and Slovak publisher Kaligram from Bratislava (2012), Ukrainian publisher "Piramid" from Lviv (2013), Macedonian publisher "Ikona" from Skopje (2014), Spanish publisher "Acantilado" from Barselona (2015), Russian publisher "Book Center Rudomino" from Moscow (2016), Austrian publisher "Pauls Zsolnay" from Wienna (2017), Italian publisher "Lit Edizioni" from Rome (2018) and Greek publisher "Kostaniotis Editions" from Athens (2019).

Features

The Guest of Honor Country

Greece – The Guest of Honor Country at the 2009 Book Fair

Since 2002, Belgrade Fair has got also its Guest of Honor – the country with especially presented literature and publishing production. The Guest of Honor Country gets an outstanding location in the Hall 2 within the Book Fair. The Guest of Honor has the opportunity of presenting its publishing and culture at its stand as well as in the Fair's promotion conference halls, within the author meeting program, lectures and trade seminars.

The Guest of Honor may feature at the Fair the authors from its country, translators, publishers, distributors, as well as all those connected to the book in different ways. Establishing strong and live cultural connections is one of the most important event objectives and in this respect the Guest of Honor institution is extremely important.

The previous Guests of Honor were:

  • 2002: Norway
  • 2003: Canada
  • 2004: France
  • 2005: United Kingdom
  • 2006: United States
  • 2007: Italy
  • 2008: Japan
  • 2009: Greece
  • 2010: Sweden
  • 2011: Angola, Brazil, Portugal (Portuguese language literature)
  • 2012: Hungary
  • 2013: Poland
  • 2014: China
  • 2015: Russia
  • 2016: Iran
  • 2017: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein (German language literature)
  • 2018: Morocco
  • 2019: Egypt
  • 2022: Romania
  • 2023: France
  • 2024: Cuba
  • 2025: Cyprus

The School Day

The so-called School Day has been organized at the Fair since 2005, which encompasses organized visits of pupils, students, professors and school librarians, as well as many side event programs intended for them.

Notable authors

László Végel opens Book Fair 2010

The Book Fair includes all major authors from Serbia and many respected regional writers. The event is traditionally opened by renowned local authors. In the past, the Fair was festively opened by:

  • 1970: Ivo Andrić
  • 1989: Vesna Parun
  • 1994: Alexander Zinoviev
  • 1995: Takis Theodoropoulos
  • 1997: Peter Handke
  • 1998: Borys Oliynyk
  • 1999: Alexander Zinoviev
  • 2000: Dejan Medaković
  • 2001: Svetlana Velmar Janković
  • 2002:
  • 2003: David Albahari
  • 2004: Milovan Danojlić
  • 2005: Ljubomir Simović
  • 2006: Goran Petrović
  • 2007: Dušan Kovačević
  • 2008: Dragoslav Mihailović
  • 2009: Dragan Velikić
  • 2010: László Végel
  • 2011:
  • 2012:
  • 2013: Ljubivoje Ršumović and Olga Tokarczuk
  • 2014: Milosav Tešić and Liu Zhenyun
  • 2015: Emir Kusturica and Natalya Narochnitskaya
  • 2016: Ivan Negrišorac and Narges Abyar
  • 2017:
  • 2018: Matija Bećković
  • 2019: Milovan Vitezović
  • 2022: Dušan Kovačević
  • 2023: Mathias Énard and Vladislav Bajac

The Fair is annually visited by at least one contemporary worldwide known writer. Among others, the Fair was visited by Alain Robbe-Grillet, Erica Jong, Natsuki Ikezawa, Claudio Magris, Lyudmila Ulitskaya, Charles Simic, Elizabeth Abbott, Tony Parsons, Peter Handke, Patrick Besson, Gish Jen, Naim Kattan, Geir Pollen, Eugene Vodolazkin, Erlend Loe, Zakhar Prilepin...

References

References

  1. As mentioned in the 57th International Belgrade Book Fair Report
  2. (2 November 2016). "61. Међународни београдски сајам књига – завршни текст".
  3. [http://www.beogradskisajamknjiga.com/active/sr-latin/home/istorijat/prvi_sajam_knjiga.html Radovan Popovic: ''The First Book Fair''] {{webarchive. link. (18 September 2011)
  4. (11 May 2002). "Сајмови књига уз норвешку културу". Borba.
  5. (29 October 2002). "Куповало се и још више - кибицовало". Borba.
  6. (19 October 2004). "Француска почасни гост". Borba.
  7. (26 October 2005). "Mogućnosti knjige". Borba.
  8. (24 October 2006). "Magija Sajma knjiga". Borba.
  9. (23 October 2007). "Италија, земља почасни гост". Politika.
  10. (7 October 2008). "Драгослав Михаиловић отвара Сајам књига". Politika.
  11. (7 October 2009). "Књига није обична роба". Politika.
  12. (21 October 2010). "Сајам књига може да почне". Politka.
  13. 16 July 2010. "Angola, Brazil i Portugal počasni gosti Sajma knjiga 2011". Politika.
  14. 28 September 2012. "Мађарска – земља почасни гост Сајма књига". Politika.
  15. (17 October 2013). "У недељу почиње Сајам књига". Politika.
  16. (19 September 2014). "na počasni gost Beogradskog sajma knjiga". Danas.
  17. (5 October 2015). "Русија почасни гост на Београдском сајму књига". Politika.
  18. (23 October 2016). "Iran počasni gost Sajma knjiga u Beogradu". RTS.
  19. (30 August 2017). "Beogradski sajam knjiga - Četiri zemlje jedan jezik". Politika.
  20. (28 September 2018). "Мароко почасни гост на Сајму књига". Politika.
  21. (20 October 2019). "Sajam knjiga: Otvoren nacionalni štand počasnog gosta – Egipta". Danas.
  22. (27 September 2022). "Rumunija zemlja počasni gost ovogodišnjeg beogradskog Sajma knjiga". N1.
  23. (19 September 2024). "Kuba počasni gost Sajma knjiga". Danas.
  24. (21 October 2025). "68. Međunarodni sajam knjiga u Beogradu: Kipar počasni gost, učešće otkazalo 16 izlagača". Danas.
  25. (2019-10-24). "Školski dan na Sajmu knjiga - Kultura - Dnevni list Danas".
  26. Vojvodine, Javna medijska ustanova JMU Radio-televizija. "Otvoren "Školski dan" na Sajmu knjiga".
  27. Simić-Miladinović, Milenija. "Četvrtak je školski dan na Sajmu knjiga".
  28. (23 October 1970). "У БЕОГРАДУ ОТВОРЕН 15. МЕЂУНАРОДНИ САЈАМ КЊИГА". Borba.
  29. (25 October 1989). "Knjiga, večiti savremenik". Borba.
  30. (26 October 1994). "Svet koji nije nestao". Borba.
  31. (25 October 1995). "Празник речи". Borba.
  32. (20 October 1997). "Петер Хандке орвара сајам књига". Borba.
  33. (21 October 1998). "Књига и реч за цео свет". Borba.
  34. (20 October 1999). "У славу слободног духа". Borba.
  35. (25 October 2000). "Путевима слободних духова Европе". Borba.
  36. (24 October 2001). "Сусрет с трајношћу". Borba.
  37. (21 October 2003). "Otvoren Sajam Knjiga u Beogradu". B92.
  38. (19 October 2004). "Otvoren 49. Beogradski sajam knjiga". B92.
  39. (26 October 2005). "Veliki duhovni ugođaj". Borba.
  40. (25 October 2006). "Važno je čitati". Politika.
  41. (23 October 2007). "Svetkovina pisane reči". Borba.
  42. (20 October 2008). "Mihajlović i Ikezava otvorili 53. Međunarodni sajam knjiga". RTV.
  43. (October 2025). "Pisac Dragan Velikić otvorio Sajam knjiga". Beta.
  44. (25 October 2010). "Otvoren 55. Sajam knjiga". RTV.
  45. (20 October 2013). "Ljuba Ršumović i Olga Tokarčuk otvorili 58. Sajam knjiga u Beogradu". Blic.
  46. (26 October 2014). "Svečano otvoren Sajam knjiga". Blic.
  47. (25 October 2015). "Počinje 60. Sajam knjiga, domaćin - Rusija". Trebinjelive.
  48. (24 October 2016). "Otvoren Beogradski sajam knjiga". Al Jazeera.
  49. (21 October 2018). "Počeo 63. Beogradski sajam knjiga". N1.
  50. (20 October 2019). "Свечано отворен Сајам књига". Politika.
  51. (23 October 2022). "Dušan Kovačević otvorio Sajam knjiga u Beogradu". RTV.
  52. (21 October 2023). "Francuski književnik Matijas Enar i srpski pisac Vladislav Bajac otvorili Sajam knjiga: "Reči i dalje mogu da prelaze granice"". 24 Sedam.
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