report

Lit Link Festival 2014 to be held Aug 28-30

The second edition of the "Lit Link" literary festival will take place in Pula, Rijeka and Zagreb on August 28-30, bringing together US, Canadian, British and Croatian authors and editors to promote Croatian literature abroad and foreign literature in Croatia.
The foreign guests will include authors Adam Mansbach, Miriam Toews, Sheila Heti, Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall and Kathryn Borel, editor Anne Meadows, author and editor Buzz Poole, editor Dan Simon, editor Zeljka Marosevic, editor Andi Winnette, and author, journalist and editor Michael Stein.
The Croatian authors to attend the event are Željka Horvat Čeč, Maša Kolanović, Ivana Kovačić, Enver Krivac, Davor Mandić, Robert Međurečan, Marko Pogačar, Ivana Simić Bodrožić, Dalibor Šimpraga, Bojan Žižović, Jasna Žmak and Zoran Žmiric.

Lit Link Festival aspires to enrich the cultural environment of Croatian cities not only by creating single happenings, but also by working on long-term effects of promoting the Croatian literature abroad. At the same time, through the presentation of both foreign and domestic authors, festival focuses on promoting Croatian literary scene with foreign editors and publishers as its equally important guests.

At the readings in three cities (Pula, Rijeka, Zagreb) domestic audience discovers interesting authors who hadn't been previously translated to Croatian. A number of Croatian authors present their work to the audience as well as to the American guests.

This year, after its successful first edition – resulting in commitments of the American publishers and literary magazines related to Croatian literature and it's particular authors – the festival is gathering domestic authors and Canadian, US and British writers and editors.

Lit Link Festival wants to induce the two-way exchange of fresh information and the longterm connection of Croatian literature with the rest of the world.

PROGRAM

PULA / 28. 08. 2014.

MAKINA GALERY / 21:00 – 23:00

Miriam Toews, Adam Mansbach, Jasna Žmak, Sheila Heti, Marko Pogačar, Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall, Bojan Žižović

RIJEKA / 29. 08. 2014.

RIJEKA CENTER FOR ASTRONOMY / 19:30

Presentation of the magazine McSweeney’s Quarterly and the Croatian authors to be published. Guest: Andi Winnette, managing editor at McSweeney's

RIJEKA CENTER FOR ASTRONOMY / 20:30 – 22:30

Adam Mansbach, Enver Krivac, Sheila Heti, Davor Mandić, Buzz Poole, Zoran Žmirić, Miriam Toews, Željka Horvat Čeč, Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall

ZAGREB / 30. 08. 2014.

ART-KINO GRIČ / 20:00 – 23:00

Maša Kolanović, Adam Mansbach, Robert Međurečan, Miriam Toews, Ivana Kovačić, Kathryn Borel, Ivana Simić Bodrožić, Sheila Heti, Dalibor Šimpraga, Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall

EDITORS WHO WILL PRESENT THEIR WORK AT THE FESTIVAL:

Sheila Heti (The Believer/USA), Željka Marošević (Melville House/UK), Anne Meadows (Granta Books/ UK), Buzz Poole (Ghost & Company/USA), Dan Simon (Seven Stories Press/USA), Michael Stein (Literalab-BODY/Czech Republic), Andi Winnette (McSweeney's/USA)

BIOGRAPHIES OF GUESTS

SHAUGHNESSY BISHOP-STALL

Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall’s first book was an account of the year he spent living with the homeless in Toronto’s infamous Tent City. Down to This: Squalor and Splendour in a Big-City Shantytown was nominated for The Drainie-Taylor Biography Prize, the Trillium Award, the City of Toronto Book Award and the 2005 Pearson Writers’ Trust of Canada Non-Fiction Prize.

The following year, he was awarded the Knowlton Nash Journalism Fellowship at Massey College and also played the role of Jason – a bad-mannered, well-dressed journalist – on CBC-TV’s The Newsroom. His new novel, Ghosted, was nominated for the 2011 Amazon First Novel Award. He currently teaches writing at the University of Toronto.

KATHRYN BOREL

Kathryn Borel is a writer and producer. Her book Corked: A Memoir was a finalist for the 2010 Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour and chosen as one of the best books of 2009 by The National Post, Quill & Quire and Eye Weekly.

Kathryn’s journalism has appeared in The Guardian, The Times UK, and The New York Times, among others. Presently she writes for the medical drama Rush on the USA network, and is an editor at The Believer. She lives in Los Angeles.

SHEILA HETI

Sheila Heti recently published the novel How Should a Person Be? which was nominated for The Women’s Prize for Fiction (formerly The Orange Prize) and named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times Book Review, The New Yorker, Salon and other places. She lives in Toronto and is the author of four other books of fiction and non-fiction, and one book for kids. She has written for The London Review of Books, n+1, Harper's and more, and is a contributing editor at The Believer magazine. She frequently collaborates with other artists and writers.

ŽELJKA HORVAT ČEČ

Born in Čakovec, in the year of Chernobyl and Maradona (1986). Published a book of poems The stars also laugh at frailty (2005) and was one of the authors in the poetry collection There are better things than dry clothes (2007). She was awarded at a competition for the short story "Zlatko Tomičić" and published a short story collection The cowboy in the red Golf (2010). Published in literary magazines and attended various festivals. She won the first prize for poetry at the Ulaznica 2013 literary competition. In her poems and stories she speaks openly and without compromise. She organizes literary evenings and discussions.

She lives in Rijeka, likes sarcasm, football and making a mess.

MAŠA KOLANOVIĆ

Maša Kolanović (Zagreb, 1979) is an author of five books, including three books of fiction.

Her novel Underground Barbie (2008) is translated in German. She works as a lecturer of contemporary Croatian literature at the University of Zagreb. She holds PhD in literary history and cultural studies. Her disertation is published with the title Worker! Rebel? Consumer...: Popular Culture and Croatian Novel from Socialism to Transition (2011). She was a research fellow at the Universtiy of Vienna in 2006 and University of Texas at Austin in 2012.

Her book Jamerika (2013) is an ilustrated book of fiction.

IVANA KOVAČIĆ

Ivana Kovačić was born in 1979 in Split. She finished elementary and high school on the island of Hvar, and studied Croatian and Russian languages and literature at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb. She does various occasional jobs, translation, writing and participation in art and activist projects. She lives in Zagreb. Her novel Parafairytale (2013) – which touches on motives of a father's death and coming out - had a very good critical reception.

ENVER KRIVAC

Enver Krivac (1976) is a writer and musician from Rijeka. His pop-culture inspired novel Helen Keller Street (2010) won an Artefakt, a local prize for speculative fiction. His short stories collection Nothing to write about home (2013) won a national prize for young writers Prozak. He has also published underground comics. Within a collective Japanese Prime Ministers he creates music for theatre and documentaries. He produced Albumče (2014), an album of music and spoken word by Rijeka's author Tea Tulić. His prose is described by critics as poetic, imaginative, playful with words and language.

DAVOR MANDIĆ

Davor Mandić was born in 1976 in Pula. During studies in Rijeka he started writing poems, short stories and book reviews. After graduating he started working for the national daily newspaper Novi list, based in Rijeka, where he still works as a journalist and commentator, covering Croatian literary and culture scene. He has published: Mostovi (Bridges), a book of poetry (2009), and Valjalo bi me zamisliti sretnim (One Should Imagine Me Happy), a collection of short stories (2014).

ADAM MANSBACH

Adam Mansbach is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Go the Fuck to Sleep, which has been translated into 40 languages, is forthcoming as a feature film from Fox 2000, and was Time Magazine’s 2011 “Thing of the Year.” His latest novel, Rage is Back, was named a Best Book of 2013 by NPR and the San Francisco Chronicle and is currently being adapted for the stage; his previous novels include the California Book Award-winning The End of the Jews and the cult classic Angry Black White Boy, taught at more than eighty schools. Mansbach is the recipient of several awards (Reed Award, Webby Award, Gold Pollie). His work has appeared in The New Yorker, New York Times Book Review, Esquire, The Believer, Salon.com, and on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered. He lives in Berkeley, California.

ŽELJKA MAROŠEVIĆ

Željka Marošević is the Managing Director of Melville House UK. She runs the London office, managing the publishing of its American titles into the UK and building its British presence and list. In June she was selected by the Bookseller Magazine as one of the industry's Rising Stars. She previously worked for Fourth Estate, the literary imprint of HarperCollins. Melville House is an independent publishing house established in 2001 by Dennis Johnson and Valerie Merians. It specialises in literary fiction, nonfiction and books in translation, and has published authors such as Hans Fallada, David Graeber, Tao Lin and Lars Iyer. Melville House UK will launch its British list this Autumn.

ANNE MEADOWS

Anne Meadows is a Junior Editor at Granta and Portobello books, one of the most prestigious and independently-minded publishing houses in the UK, where she acquires literary fiction and non-fiction in English and in translation. Prior to Granta, she read for a literary agent at A.P. Watt and spent a summer working on literary television for the BBC. She is always on the lookout for new writers with ambition and intelligence who believe that words are the best medium we have to share our messy, joyful, troubling experiences. Her authors include John Darnielle, Donald Antrim, Frances Larson, Catherine Lacey, Alejandro Zambra, Jáchym Topol and Katrine Kielos.

ROBERT MEĐUREČAN

Robert Međurečan (b. 1969) - veterinary school dropout (will never finish), former soldier (definitely never again), musician and singer (more and more). He says he's a real Balkan homo universalis – he knows all the things he never went to school for. His first novel For Sale: War Medals, First Owner (2008) entered the shortlists for the main national book prizes (Jutarnji list, Tportal, the MH prize, the HPB prize). The novel Silence of the lambs in Zdihovo (2011) was on the long list for the Jutarnji and Tportal awards. His third novel, with the working title Galloping Birds will be published late this year, as a sort of conclusion to the "war trilogy".

MARKO POGAČAR

Marko Pogačar was born in 1984. in Split. He is an editor of Quorum, a literary magazine, and Zarez, a bi-weekly for cultural and social issues. His publications include four poetry collections, three books of essays and a short story collection. He was a fellow of, among others, Civitella Ranieri, Passa Porta, Milo Dor, Brandenburger Tor, Internationales Haus der Autoren Graz and Récollets-Paris fellowships. He was awarded for poetry, prose, and essays, his texts appeared in about thirty languages.

BUZZ POOLE

Buzz Poole has written about books, design, art, and culture for numerous outlets, including Print, The Village Voice, The Believer, Los Angeles Review of Books, San Francisco Chronicle, and The Millions. He is the author of the story collection I Like to Keep My Troubles on the Windy Side of Things; the New Statesman named his examination of unexpected iconography, Madonna of the Toast, one of 2007’s Best Underground Books. Currently, he is working on a book about the Grateful Dead album Workingman's Dead, which will be part of the 33 1/3 series.

IVANA SIMIĆ BODROŽIĆ

Ivana Simić Bodrožić, born in 1982 in Vukovar, attained a Master's degree in Philosophy and Croatian Language. She is the author of two poetry collections (Goran and Kvirin awards for young poets), a novel and a short story collection. The novel Hotel Zagorje (2010) about growing up during war and refugee life, was awarded (Kiklop for best prose work; Kočić Pen/Banja Luka-BiH; Josip and Ivan Kozarac prize), translated into German, French and Slovenian, and published in Serbia. She's writing a script for a film based on the same work along with award-winning Bosnian-Herzegovinian director Jasmila Žbanić. Her book of poetry was translated into Spanish. She lives in Zagreb as an independent writer.

DAN SIMON

Dan Simon is founder and publisher of Seven Stories Press in New York City. He is co-author of a biography of Abbie Hoffman (Tarcher/Putnam, 1994), translator of a number of volumes from the French and editor of posthumous collections of short stories and essays by Nelson Algren, among other works.

MICHAEL STEIN

Michael Stein is a writer and journalist in the Czech Republic and runs a website on Central European writing called Literalab that features interviews, book reviews, essays and news from the literary world stretching from Moscow to Belgrade to Berlin. He has written for literary journals such as Asymptote, Absinthe: New European Writing and the The Review of Contemporary Fiction among others. He is an editor at the Prague-based journal B O D Y and runs the Saturday European Fiction series. His own fiction has been published in The Missing Slate, McSweeney's and Cafe Irreal among other magazines. His short story The Cathedral of Es was selected among the storySouth Million Writers Award Notable Stories of 2012.

DALIBOR ŠIMPRAGA

Dalibor Šimpraga was born in 1969 in Zagreb, where he lives today. He studied Croatian and Southern Slavic Literature and Linguistics in Zagreb. He was a free-lance author, now he is cultural editor of Globus, the main news-magazine in Croatia. He was a co-founder of the literary magazine Fantom slobode. He has published: Anastasia, a novel (2007), and Kavice Andreja Puplina, a collection of short stories (2002). He edited 22 u hladu, an anthology of young Croatian prose (1999). For his debut novel Anastasia, he received the literary prize roman@tportal.hr (one of main prizes in Croatia) in 2008.

MIRIAM TOEWS

Miriam Toews was born in the small Mennonite town of Steinbach, Manitoba and is the author of five previous bestselling novels and a memoir of her father. She was the recipient of the Governor General’s Award for Fiction, the Libris Award for Fiction Book of the Year, the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, and the Writers Trust Marian Engel/Timothy Findley Award. Toews' third novel A Complicated Kindness spent over a year on the Canadian bestseller lists and won the 2006 edition of Canada Reads, the first book by a female writer to win the competition. Besides many other languages, her novel will alsooon be published in Croatian translation. She lives in Toronto.

ANDI WINNETTE

Andi Winnette is the former managing editor of the Believer, a monthly arts and culture magazine published by McSweeney’s. She is currently the managing editor of McSweeney's Books, for which she acquires and edits fiction, nonfiction, and young-adult titles. She has worked with Diane Williams, Susan Straight, Sean Wilsey, Michelle Tea, Alessandro Baricco, Miriam Toews, and others. She is also involved in foreign-rights sales and acquisitions for McSweeney’s, and recently acquired novels by Bekim Sejranovic and Olja Savicevic for publication in the coming years. She lives in San Francisco, California with her husband, the author Colin Winnette.

BOJAN ŽIŽOVIĆ

Bojan Žižović was born in Pula in 1975. He published two books of poetry entitled Apsurdity and In the Case It Doesn't Exist. He works on a collection of short stories. He worked as a journalist for the local daily newspaper Glas Istre. Many of his poems were turned into songs by the cult underground musician Franci Blašković.

JASNA ŽMAK

Jasna Žmak was born in 1984 in Pula. Her short stories were published in magazines and an anthology of young writers. She graduated Dramaturgy at the Academy of Drama Art (Zagreb) where she is assistant researcher since 2012. As scripwriter she authored a few short films. As dramaturg she has recently collaborated with neo-avantgarde directors Oliver Frljić and Borut Šeparović, and as writer with director and choreographer Matija Ferlin. Two of her performance texts were published. She is an editor in the performing arts journal Frakcija.

Her first short novel In bed is planned for publishing in the spring of 2015.

ZORAN ŽMIRIĆ

Zoran Žmirić (1969) is a writer and musician from Rijeka. His publications include two short story collection, a book of essays and a novel. He was a finalist for 2008 national Best Unpublished Manuscript with the novel Blockbuster (published 2009) and a finalist for the national “roman@tportal.hr” Prize (2010) for the best novel. He has been awarded with "Literary Pen" for the Blockbuster by the Croatian Literary Society (Rijeka), and The City of Rijeka Award (2011) for special achievements in culture. His works are translated into Polish and Italian. He plays bass in three-decades lasting rock group Grč from Rijeka.

CROATIAN WRITERS SOCIETY

Basaričekova 24, 10000 Zagreb

www.hrvatskodrustvopisaca.hr

KNJIŽEVNA KARIKA – LIT LINK FESTIVAL

year two

CWS PRESIDENT

Nikola Petković

PROGRAM DIRECTOR

Robert Perišić

FESTIVAL COORDINATION

Ana Bunčić

Ivan Sršen

INTERNATIONAL COORDINATOR

Buzz Poole

FESTIVAL’S VISUAL IDENTITY

Barbara Blasin

SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY

Ana Brnardić

https://hr-hr.facebook.com/litlink

Zagreb, 2014