The International Book Fair in Belgrade was first opened in 1957 in Hall 3 of the newly opened modern fairground. It was part of the larger cultural manifestation “Book Month”, and the organizers emphasized that this is the only fair in Europe dedicated exclusively to books. However, the first Yugoslav book fair was held at the Zagreb Fair a year earlier, and the organizer was the Association of Publishing Companies of Yugoslavia.
The start
The book fair was announced in the “Politika” newspaper a month earlier, completely inconspicuous among the numerous cultural news, and the event itself gathered guests from 16 countries and as many as 54 local exhibitors. The writer who will regularly be the most notable personality at the Fair in the coming years, Ivo Andrić, then received the newly established Lifetime Achievement Charter awarded by the Union of Writers of Yugoslavia.
With the opening of the Fair, post-war Yugoslavia, in the spirit of its development, got a place where books become more accessible and in demand, but also an event that will significantly improve the position of Yugoslav literature in the world and at the same time increase the number of publications by foreign authors on the domestic market.
Unlike previous events, the Belgrade Book Fair has been held every year in the same place since its inception, and its golden age was the first decade of its existence. Then the number of visitors, exhibitors, and foreign guests also grew, and the fair was accompanied by exhibitions, various programs and “Vašar knijge”, which included big discounts. At the time of the fair, the Yugoslav Railways gave a discount to all those who went to Belgrade to meet the book, and the fair became one of the most important in the world. Since at this event, Yugoslav publishing had the opportunity to present its work, but also to meet foreign editions, the export and import of books have increased significantly, and domestic writers have been increasingly translated into other languages.
From ten thousand visitors, as many as there were in 1956 at the fair in Zagreb, this number had already reached 150,000 by 1961. It was the year when Andrić received the Nobel Prize, so his works were the most sought after. In the first decade of the Belgrade Fair, fiction was mostly read, but poetry and essay writing also recorded increasing interest. European novels were in great demand, as were textbooks for learning foreign languages, and gramophone records could also be found in the fair offer. When summarizing the impressions, the only criticism was directed to the small number of professional and scientific publications.
Writers’ fair
Until 1988, when Desanka Maksimović did it, the Fair was opened by a representative of the political authorities, with the exception of 1970, when that role went to Ivo Andrić.
The book fair is still one of the most important cultural manifestations in this area, which gathers a large number of exhibitors, guests from abroad and visitors, and is accompanied by a rich program. Since 2002, the institution of the country of honor guest has been introduced, and since 1988, the fair has been opened by writers.
