The first edition of the Zagreb Publishing Fellowship took place from May 13th to 15th with the majority of the programme occupying the hall of the Croatian Centre for Children’s Books in the central national library building located in Zagreb City Centre. The goals of the programme were creating new connections between publishers who are interested in publishing books translated from smaller languages and fostering long term collaboration among the participants. The programme gathered 12 editors and foreign rights managers from 11 different coutries: Croatia, Slovenia, North Macedonia, Spain, Italy, the US, the Nethrelands, Finland, Norway, Slovakia and Hungary.
The 2024 fellowship was developed as a part of the Read, Share, Enjoy project, through which 7 foreign publishers were invited to the fellowship (4 project partners + 3 through open applications). After receiving many excellent and complementary applications, we decided to host another 4 fellows and connect this event to another on-going EU project Book in the Park – this created a balanced group of publishers with different level of experience regarding participation at international events, knowledge of and experience with EACEA projects, and in the publishing industry itself. For the full list of participants and their short biographies, see THIS POST.
The Programme
The 3-day programme was split into three categories: one-on-one meetings, presentations/talks and social events. The bulk of the programme was dedicated to 30-minute meetings between fellows: enough time was allocated for all the fellows to meet with each other and present their catalogue. This portion of the programme was dedicated to introducing each participant to each other on a professional level in a time constriced format which allowed just enough time to showcase each side’s main focus withouth getting into too much details.
In addition to meetings between fellows, a speed dating with Croatian publishers was also organised for all the visiting fellows. The participation at this event was offered to all Croatian publishers of children’s literature through applications, with 10 available spots due to time constrictions allocated to this event. In the end, 7 Croatian publishers attended the event: Naklada Semafora, Sanjari, HDKDM, Planetopija, Iris Illyrica, Medus Biro and Diligo liber. In this 2 hour event, each fellow had a 10 minute meeting with each of the Croatian publishers. Following the event, there was free time in which any particular meeting could be continued between specific participants.
The fellowship programme also included five presentations by participants and guests. Two fellows presented some specifics about their national literatures (Dejan Trajkoski and Araya Goitia), fellows and co-translators Lawrence Schimel and Lina Krnic held a talk about translation of children’s literature, while a special place was reserved for two guests who were invited by Ibis grafika to present Croatian children’s literature and the translation support programme; Isabella Mauro, the head of Croatian Centre for Children’s Literature, and Mihaela Majcen Marinić from the Croatian Ministry of Culture and Media, respectively.
Fellows had organised and free social time to then get to know each other also on a personal level, and discus more deeply about which parts of their their work were truly complementary. The social activities, including a tour of the city and attendance at the opening ceremony of the festival Books in the Treetops also provided the opportunity for the fellows to meet local and foreign authors and illustrators: Vanda Čižmek, Iva Dužić, Silvija Šesto, Kristian Novak, Ana Vujasić (Croatia), Majda Koren and Damijan Stepančič (Slovenia), Jasminka Petrović (Serbia), and Bart Moeyaert (Belgium).
Fellows' impressions
“Ibis Grafika’s fellowship programme in Zagreb was a great opportunity to learn more about publishers from across Europe, discover new literature and exchange information. Throughout the meetings we were able to pick new projects to review for translation and also showcase Spanish and Catalan books. Also, we were able to gain some comprehension on the Croatian, North-Macedonian and Slovenian markets from the inside, with a very insightful visit to Pričozemska Bookshop and the Books in the Treetops festival. We look forward to continuing these exchanges and thinking in new forms of collaboration with our foreign partners.“
– Araya Goitia, Ekare ediciones
“Overall, I found it a really useful and insightful experience to meet likeminded European publishers and I’ve made some very interesting new foreign rights contacts. The programme was well balanced between work and social time, and like some other fellows remarked: the big plus of a fellowship is that you get to know each other a bit better than with 30-minute meetings at bookfairs; so you can establish a relationship more quickly. And of course, the organization was impeccable, thank you again for that!”
– Irene Kunst, Rubenstein