Participated in the program at the book fair
“I will certainly try to believe in literature, no matter how bleak the future may be, and my message to everyone is: ‘Learn at least one verse – we will need it.'” said Mario Desiati, Italian writer, winner of the Strega for the novel “Razdomljeni” at Breakfast with authored by Aljoša Pužar. The audience responded with a long and strong, hearty applause that marked Tuesday, the fifth day of the 29th Book Fair in Istria.
“Desiati is a great author, deeply thoughtful, exactly what literature needs today”, the distinguished translator Sanja Roić, a well-thought-out Polish woman, shared her impressions with us. Her words best describe the atmosphere of freedom and the beauty of art that the gentle and sincere Mario Desiati brought to the 29th Book Fair in Istria, where his novel “Razdomljeni” (OceanMore) was presented.
“Mario Desiati is an author who managed to speak about the first generation of European citizens who, after the borders were abolished, are at home everywhere in Europe, but they are still not at home anywhere. They are thought out, said Nataša Medved, editor at the publishing house OceanMore.
“Both thought, as well as the word queer, carry something negative in them. When I wrote ‘Razdomljene’ I always had the word queer in mind. People want to break down barriers within themselves and those around them. Breaking down those obstacles means trauma, means pain, and the fear of that pain is always present. I directed my story towards Berlin, the city symbol of all European walls, Desiati said and opened new spaces of freedom to the 29th Fair.
Histrokosmos showed how far the limits of freedom can go, and that it is possible to compose applied music even for vinegar. The story goes like this: Tamara Obrovac, the first face of the Istrian note, as presented by the charming and relaxed Roberta Razzi, at the invitation of designer Sean Poropat from Sonda, tasted the wines made at the Istrian estate of Tenuta Tre Terre by Ivan Catalan, a genius Sicilian from Novigrad. Then the unique musician composed three compositions for each particular vinegar. Octevi has a recognizable name Nota, and the unique, phenomenal multisensory label is signed by Sonda studio. Each vinegar on the label has a QR code through which you can access the composition of Tamara Obrovac and discover the musical experience of the tasted vinegars.
“Culture is what creates the value of a space”, Sean Poropat summed up the main intention of all Sonda’s projects, including Nota Ocat, and he inherited this premise from his teacher, the great painter and music pedagogue Ivan Obrovac, Tamara’s father, one of the most brilliant microcosms Istria.
It was with his words that Tamara Obrovac concluded Histrokosmos by answering a question about her father’s influence on her artistic creation and freedom. “I didn’t raise you, I just made sure that others didn’t raise you,” Tamara’s father said on one occasion, and the Histrokosmos audience showed that he did it very well with a big round of applause.
Tenuta Tre Terre’s marketing manager and chef Denis Mohenski also participated in Histrokoszmos, and his wines were presented by Milan Budinski, who will also be remembered for the fact that he made a name for himself as an expert in vinegar. Namely, it is about “the oenologist who went to vinegar”.
All in all, another experience to remember.
The wonderful programs that marked Monday evening at the Fair should certainly be singled out. “When you lose your memory, you lose your library. Libraries represent the totality of humanity. That’s why libraries are burned and destroyed in wars. They are extremely precious”, said the American writer, publicist and screenwriter Susan Orlean, who presented the novel “The Book of the Library” (Sandorf) in the Sa(n)jam book program at the library. The audience included numerous female librarians from all over Croatia, and along with editor Ivan Sršen, whose mother and grandmother were both librarians, the promotion was brilliantly led by Emir Imamović Pirke. “I would like comics to remain on the margins forever. The School of Applied Arts gave me a lot personally, and that’s where I got to know the world of comics through my friends, said Danijel Žeželj, who presented the graphic novel “Kao pas” (Bodoni) in Life in the Clouds. Through this graphic novel, the backbone of which is Kafka’s story “The Starving Artist”, Žeželj painted a complex, anxious and surreal world of Kafka’s atmosphere with his unique visual narration. He also transposed his graphic novel “Like a Dog” into the powerful exhibition “The Starving Artist”. The exhibition was opened at the end of the fourth day of the fair, in front of a happy crowd, in Galeria Makina, an important refuge of the Fair, as Fair director Magdalena Vodopija said at the opening.