"When we announced the competition, I thought about the number of novels that I would consider a success, and I stopped at two hundred," says Ivan Bevc, editor-in-chief of the Booka publishing house.
However, at the just ended anonymous literary contest for an unpublished novel, which was announced by Booka and OTP Bank, 575 manuscripts arrived! "I admit, we were a little confused when we realized what mass we had caused by the decision to open the contest to all literary creators, after all, we should have read it all," says Bevc. About thirty were shortlisted, and six shortlisted, which, "if the weather was a bit better, we would have published them all".
The winner Mirjana Drljević and her manuscript No one is forgotten and we remember nothing they immediately stood out, and Bevc particularly emphasizes the "dialogue and filmic nature of the plot" in her novel. He is delighted that the best manuscript is also the debut manuscript, and that thus "a new literary face was discovered".
Considering the quantity of submitted works, it could be said that Booka's competition is an indicator of the topics that are being written about now.
"About the homeland, about the Chetniks and Ustashas, about the suffering of the Serbian people, then there were manuscripts of the science-fiction genre that would certainly have been noticed if this competition had been announced by another publisher and not us, and finally, there were also manuscripts that dealt with the contemporary moment and contemporary heroes, that is, the topics that we publish", lists Bevc.
He claims that they insisted on the anonymity of the candidate "and I have no idea if I made a mistake about a famous literary name." So far, no one has complained to me."
One of the characteristics of the Serbian literary scene is the number of contests. Bevc agrees with this assessment, but questions their purpose.
"Our literary contests as well as our publishing seem poor, from the effect they have on the public to the prizes", which are "nonsensically low", he assesses and adds that "apart from the financial benefit for the writer, which of course I very much welcome, I don't think any other there is no benefit from the competitions here."
"I need to treat writers like stars, I miss the glamour, because it's a good way to draw attention and reach readers." We don't deal with that, and I think that's a mistake. Shine is essential! The quality of the book is of course mandatory and self-evident, but let's do something else, let's draw attention to the writers!"
Because, he explains, as long as "we, the publishers, behave like the poor of paradise, that's how it will be for us. The time of the saying that the book finds its own way to the reader is long gone. In this sea of releases, that's simply impossible."
Will this be Booka's only contest? "We plan to announce the next one in February and become a permanent presence, which depends not only on us and our partner, but also on the circumstances. It's hard to plan."
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