30th BOOK FAIR(Y) IN ISTRIA
Pula Festival of Books and Authors

Theme: Microcosmos

29th November – 8th December 2025
House of Croatian Defenders

The theme Microcosmos marked the jubilee 30th edition of the Book Fair(y) in Istria. It was, in fact, a theme about identity which reflected the three-decade-long creative trajectory of the Pula Book Fair, characterized by the “constant intertwining of the peculiar character of Istria – a small continent and a vast world.” At the 30th Fair, through nearly a hundred programs and in a unique closeness with the audience, with a view from Pula, 120 authors from around the world contemplated the theme of the Microcosmos — among them renowned writers, theorists, philosophers, and artists. The Dutch philosopher Rob Riemen, the author of the famous Nobility of Spirit, opened the Fair by reading an essay written in honour of the Pula Fair, while a five-minute standing ovation from the audience, as a tribute to the Italian philosopher and activist Donatella Di Cesare, a guest of one of the most powerful Breakfast with the author sessions ever held, entered the Fair’s history. Everyone was won over by the great Tanino Liberatore, the Michelangelo of Italian comics, and one of his RanXerox illustrations, which he drew live in Pula and which will remain in the fair's scrapbook. Andrij Ljubka, Mihail Šiškin, Oliver Lovrenski, Costica Bradatan, Predrag Finci, and many others shone at the Fair with their artistic, scholarly, and authorial microcosms. The thirtieth anniversary was also celebrated alongside some of the most significant domestic and regional authors: Nada Gašić, Ivica Đikić, Ante Tomić, Dragan Velikić, Boris Dežulović, Dubravka Stojanović, Alenka Zupančič, Vlaho Bogišić, Ivan Matejčić, Žarko Paić, Evelina Rudan, and Tamara Obrovac…Among the celebrities were the unique Tereza Kesovija, Rambo Amadeus, Sejo Sexon, and Milomir Kovačević Strašni, who also served as one of the Fair’s official photographers… This jubilee will also be remembered for one of the most attended and longest-running programs: a tribute to Predrag Lučić, the most beloved author the Fair ever had. His friends, colleagues, and bandmates presented his poetry collection South yard 1–2 (Južno dvorište 1-2), from the rich archive he left behind. The singing went on for hours and no one wanted to go home. The audience also showed great interest in the 2nd Histrocosmos, which for the first time featured a guest region – Konavle. Furthermore, the best-selling book of the 30th Fair came from this program – Proverbs on eating and drinking (Poslovice o iću i piću) by Franko Lukež, edited by Petra Lukež and published by the Croatian University Press, fulfilling a promise made at the first Histrocosmos. Actually, in the sales section of the Fair, over 30,000 titles from more than 300 publishers were on display.

The Fair also celebrated its founder: in Monte Zaro, in the neighbourhood he sang about, the Boško Obradović Path was inaugurated, which was one of the most emotional highlights of the 30th jubilee. Another memorable image includes the one from the opening ceremony, when over a hundred Fair collaborators gathered on the steps of the House of Croatian Homeland War Veterans as a part of a broader Fair microcosmos of nearly a thousand creative and distinctive individuals who have been building this manifestation in Pula in honour of books and authors for three decades. They were the ones to whom the Fair’s director, Magdalena Vodopija, dedicated the 30th edition. And let it be known, the celebration extended far beyond the Fair itself - the round red number 30, a symbol of the anniversary, “travelled the world,” while the Fair’s main heroine was a revived Pufka, a character designed by Mauricio Ferlin. On this occasion, she even “came to life”, observing everything from the 30th Fair’s poster, in bluish light with a book in her hand “contemplating past experiences, events, and encounters”.

30th BOOK FAIR(Y) IN ISTRIA Pula Festival of Books and Authors

Theme: Microcosmos

29th November – 8th December 2025 House of Croatian Defenders

Gallery

Fair(y) Tales

Blacksmiths of Better Stories

Book Fair(y) is a Collection of Good Stories

Authors/Participants

Publishers

Self-published

30th BOOK FAIR(Y) IN ISTRIA
Pula Festival of Books and Authors

29th November – 8th December 2025
House of Croatian Defenders