ZAGREB, 8 March, 2021 - The Interliber international book fair, which was to take place from 23 to 28 March, has been postponed until the autumn because of the coronavirus pandemic, Zagreb Trade Fair (ZV) announced on Monday.

ZV said the decision was made in consultation with the Association of Book Publishers and Booksellers and in compliance with the government measures, which do not allow the holding of fairs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new date for Interliber is 28 September to 3 October. Whether or not the book fair will be held solely depends on developments surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and decisions by the national COVID-19 response team, ZV said.

ZAGREB, November 15, 2020 - The 43rd international book fair Interliber, postponed this month due to coronavirus, will be held on 23-28 March 2021, Zagreb Fair has announced.

The new dates have been agreed with Croatia's leading publishers and booksellers.

In order to protect all participants in the event, Zagreb Fair says it will ensure all safety measures for the March dates in line with guidelines issued by the national and Zagreb civil protection authorities and the Croatian Institute of Public Health.

The 43rd Interliber was to have taken place on November 10-15. All the cancelled activities are being held online and in libraries across Croatia as part of the "A book to everyone and everywhere" project, while authors are being presented on Croatian Television's Channel 3 and on the YouTube channel of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce association of publishers and libraries.

October 23, 2020 – The Zagreb Book Fair Interliber will continue its tradition and be held from November 10 to November 15, 2020, at the Zagreb Fair (Zagrebački velesajam).

For the 43rd year in a row, Zagreb will host the well-known international Interliber book fair. As announced by the organizers, during the six days, the Interliber book fair will be a hot spot for all lovers of books and the written word.

However, due to the current situation with the coronavirus pandemic, for this often crowded event, all security measures have been prepared to stay safe in this realm of books.

Namely, the passages between the exhibition spaces will be widened to four meters and the number of pavilions in which the fair will be held will be increased. A larger number of entrances and exits will be provided for each pavilion, and visitors' body temperature will be measured without contact at each entrance.

Due to the maintenance of the safe flow of people, the number of visitors will be measured at the entrance and it will be limited. Also, visitors are recommended to move in one direction. Of course, wearing a mask is mandatory for all visitors, and disinfectants will be provided in all pavilions.

Interliber is the largest literary event in Croatia and a platform for the promotion of books, writers, reading, science, and knowledge that brings together the most important publishers and bookstores with a rich book offer of current titles.

Despite the uncertain situation with the pandemic, Interliber's 43-year-long tradition will continue, and all the book lovers will be able to find a long-desired book at an affordable price or get all the necessary literature for school.

The fair will be open for visitors from 10 am to 9 pm every day, and during the weekend until 10 pm. The entrance to the fair is free.

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As Poslovni Dnevnik/Sasa Paparella writes on the 15th of November, 2019, the start of this year's Interliber coincided with the bankruptcy of Algoritam, once a leading Croatian publisher. On the occasion of the opening of the much loved book fair, Culture Minister Nina Obuljen Koržinek said that after the collapse of Agrokor and the bookstore chain Algoritam MK, which had almost dragged domestic publishing to its knees, the situation in the industry had "stabilised".

Croatian publishers, however, don't fully agree with this statement, noting that there is still not enough bookstores in Croatia, and the question is what will happen to the existing ones - The company Hoću knjigu (I want a book) which took over most bookstores from the failed Algorithm chain, lost a massive two million kuna last year.

As it isn't easy to do business in Croatia whichever way you look at it, and indeed whichever industry you're in, some of Croatian publishers are instead choosing to put their energy into conquering foreign markets. Thus, the children's books published by Zagreb's Kašmir promet have seen as many as 12 million copies sold in China in the last five years alone. The circulation of their 40 or so titles averages 300,000, and sometimes exceeds half a million copies.

"We have six publishers in China, and three more have visited us now during Interliber. The story began back in 2014 when we were exhibiting at the Seoul Fair, our books there were liked by the Chinese, and they invited us to take a tour. It lasted a month and we toured the twelve largest Chinese cities, and my wife Andrea Petrlik Huseinović had exhibitions of her illustrations, too. We signed the books for three to four hours a day, they feel like we're stars. When we had to go to the car, people ran after us to sign more books,'' Huseinović recalls.

They have been successful on other continents outside of our own here in Europe as well - in South America, more precisely Colombia, they have one title which was printed in seven issues, and in Mexico, they have one title currently being proofread (Poljski miš i gradski miš/The field mouse and the city mouse).

"If we hadn't expanded, we'd have disappeared a long time ago! With the money from the sale of rights over there, we're manahing to cover the business here at home,'' says Huseinović.

Despite various problems, Slavko Kozina, the new president of the Publishers and Bookstores Community (ZNIK), remains very optimistic about the state of things.

"There's no longer any drama in the industry, but recovery is slow. The state is now more concerned with things, the Ministry of Education has once again started providing money after ten years to buy books for school libraries - this year that amount stands at 5 million kuna, and a total of 20 million kuna will be distributed from EU funds in the coming years. In addition to that, the Ministry of Culture is providing 33 million kuna in grants and for book purchases, and we have an Entrepreneur in Culture contest,'' Kozina says.

The problem is with Croatian bookstores, there are enough of them only in the very centre of Zagreb. The famous Morpurgo Bookstore in Split has been closed for two years now. The new owner of the space, a vulcaniser, wants to open a cafe in one of Europe's oldest bookstores, but the space is protected so he's failed in that venture, and the City of Split is trying to get ownership of it by offering it in exchange for another property.

“Although Hoću knjigu does well at Joker and in the Mall of Split, the city needs at least one more serious bookstore. Our interest is dispersion, which is why ZNIK has just launched the Mediterranean Book Festival in Split,'' Kozina notes.

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