The fifth edition of the Zagreb Book Festival or ZBF, entitled ‘Brave New World’, will open on Monday, 20 May 2019, at the Museum of Arts and Crafts with a ceremony starting at 7:30 pm. The festival will offer a rich program packed with well-known names of the Croatian and foreign literary scene and six days of intellectual pleasure to lovers of books and reading.
ZBF is an international festival of reading that takes place in the center of Zagreb. It aims to promote interest in books and reading and to approach, in an interactive way, audiences of different interests and ages. The festival was initiated with the belief literature and arts make the foundation of every quality society, as well as with the premise that meetings and gatherings of writers, artists, culturally inspired people, and their audiences inspire and encourage dialogue, exchange of opinions and creation of new values.
Besides presentations, promotion, signings of many new books, an important part of the annual Zagreb Book Festival Program is panel discussions and lectures in which renowned international and national intellectuals and artists respond and comment on some of the important contemporary issues.
This year’s theme talks about how with all the advantages of the modern society we are faced with inhuman aspects of material and scientific progress that is, above all, aiming to create a happy consumer, and although we communicate more than ever, the contemporary (wo)man feels alienated, and depression and feelings of loneliness and anxiety become major causes of dissatisfaction.
The ‘Brave New World’ asks us: What is the future of contemporary people? Who are the millennials? How do they see the world they have found? What do they want to make out of it? What will happen with science, art, and religion in the future? Why would one want to limit movement of people by wire and walls? Who will really tell us what the future brings?
The festival is open till May 25th, for more info on program of the events please visit ZBF.
Photo source: Zagreb Book Festival Facebook
