Rijeka’s 19th Vrisak Festival to Feature More Than 50 Events

Rijeka’s Vrisak book fair and authors’ festival will return for its 19th edition from Sept. 12 to 19, with more than 50 events planned across the city. Organizers presented the program at the V.B.Z. bookstore on Korzo.

The festival will bring together Croatian, regional and international authors for literary discussions, book launches, children’s and youth programs, workshops, exhibitions, music and other events connecting literature with different parts of culture.

The official opening is scheduled for Sept. 14 at 7:30 p.m. in Matija Vlačić Flacius Square in Rijeka’s Old Town. Ukrainian writer and intellectual Oksana Zabuzhko will be one of the main guests. She will discuss her celebrated novel Field Work in Ukrainian Sex. Vladimir Arsenijević will also take part, with Marko Pogačar moderating the conversation.

Norwegian writer and longtime journalist Trude Teige will present Grandma Danced in the Rain, a story about three generations of women whose lives are linked by family secrets, love, war and inherited trauma. The trilogy that includes the novel has sold more than 1.3 million copies. Slovenian author, journalist and mountaineer Tadej Golob will present Lake, the first crime novel in his popular series about Inspector Taras Birsa.

The festival will also host Polish Balkanist, journalist, translator and author Aleksandra Wojtaszek. Her book Fjaka: Croatia, an Outsider’s View examines Croatia through the perspective of someone who has studied its language, literature, culture and society for years. Vrisak Junior will again have a prominent place in the program for younger audiences, alongside appearances by numerous authors from Croatia and the wider region.