Caricature: Vladimir StankovskiUnder the name "Book at the Fair, Fair in the Heart" today at the Belgrade Fair began an event that has the characteristics of a New Year's fair where books are sold. Due to the pandemic, which caused the cancellation of two International Book Fairs, some publishers decided not to participate this time as well. For many, fair sales are a matter of survival
The sales event "Books at the Fair, Fair in the Heart" started today, with the participation of around 100 publishers and booksellers. It takes place in Hall 2 of the Belgrade Fair, and lasts until December 26.
Due to the timing and the content, this manifestation is associated with the two most visited programs of the Belgrade Fair: the New Year's Fair and the large October International Book Fair, which were not held this year and last year due to the corona virus.
Expecting that the new manifestation will bring together "book admirers and in the belief that books are healing and will bring optimism and good energy into the New Year", its organizer Belgrade Fair indirectly associates potential visitors with Vashar and the Book Fair, so that they would not come in as large a number as possible. .
The fact that the ticket price for this event is 100 dinars, which is significantly less than price for usual performances. Also, the price of renting stands is significantly lower than the prices for the Book Fair.
The attempt of the Belgrade Fair and the City Assembly to organize the usual International Book Fair this October failed, because all three publishers' associations decided that during the pandemic such a gathering would be extremely risky and would not pay off for them because the attendance would be incomparably smaller than usual. On that occasion, the city secretary for culture, Ivan Karl, stated that the Book Fair is the only city manifestation of culture whose continuity has not been preserved during the pandemic.
Why did the publishers, that is, the same ones who in October rejected both the promotion of their new books and the profit they would make from sales, now agreed to participate in the event "Books at the Fair, Fair in the Heart"?
President of the Association of Professional Publishers of Serbia (UPIS) and director and editor-in-chief of the publishing house Clio Zoran Hamovic says that the majority decision of their members is not to participate, "given that the situation regarding the pandemic has not changed for the better from October until now". The decision is not binding, so they left it up to everyone to decide "according to their needs."
Clio, for example, will not participate because Hamović believes that the epidemiological situation is still risky, that employees would be in contact with visitors of unknown health conditions for 12 hours a day. "Visitors are responsible to themselves, but we are also responsible to our employees," says Hamović.
Due to the participation of merchants, it is wrongly said that this is a book fair. "The focus of the October Book Fair is on the visibility of books and checking the quality and performance of publishers in the annual cycle between the two fairs, and here the focus is on New Year's shopping." But, in order not to be misunderstood: neither the exhibitors nor the audience nor the organizers should be blamed, their intentions are understandable and justified."
The publishing house Geopoetika has a stand at the "Book at the fair, Fair in the heart". Founder and editor-in-chief of this publishing house and member of the Board of Directors of the Book Fair as a representative of UPIS Vladislav Bajac he recalls that "in October he earnestly advocated that the Book Fair not take place" and that all three publishers' associations "were united in that decision, aware that they were cutting the branch that helps them survive."
According to Bajac, reality forces them to survive despite the enormous costs – 10 to 15 percent of the money needed to produce the book is returned to the publisher. "Thanks to book sales during the ten fair days in October, publishers can live for the next few months, and this is the second year that there is no Fair."
"I, and director Jasna Novakov Sibinović, take responsibility for the decision to have Geopoetics participate in this event," says Bajac and explains that "the employees are separated by partitions and protected from visitors, and the rental prices for the space were low, so we concluded that it would be convenient for us to we agree. I think it is an example of one's own decision on one's own responsibility, and therefore an act of democracy."
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