THURSDAY, 18 MAY 2023 AT 19:30
"We are proud that we at Ljevak bookstore have the opportunity to host Martina Vidajić, the winner of this year's main European Union Prize for Literature (EUPL) 2023 for the novel "Bedbugs" (Ljevak Publishing, 2021). The novel was declared the best among 13 novels nominated this year, and authors from Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France and Kosovo received special recognition from the European committee.
The European Prize for Literature (EUPL) is an award that recognizes new literary talents across Europe and highlights the wealth of contemporary European literature, drawing attention to the continent's unique cultural and linguistic heritage. Authors from 41 member states of the European program for culture Creative Europe were competing for this award. Each year, national juries in one third of the countries participating in the program nominate the winners. The Croatian jury obviously did a good job nominating Martina for the award!
Martina Vidaić is an award-winning poet and prose writer whose literary voice resonated strongly in the Croatian literary field. Even her very first collection of poems "Era gmazova/ Era of lizzards",was awarded Goran award for young poets in 2011. Since then, Martina Vidaić has been present both as a poet and as a prose writer (the novel "Anatomy of a Rat" was published in 2019). This time we will talk to her about her novel "Bedbugs", in which she rediscovers her refined literary talent. The main character of the novel is the young and successful architect Gorana Hrabrov, who leaves her rented apartment in Zagreb's Medveščak and goes down to the city. Gorana is a fugitive, there are two possible crimes behind her, but the town is completely indifferent to that, it hums and lives, buried in the buildings that the residents built to defend themselves from their fears. The skill with which the author guides her heroine in reconstructing the collapsed house of her own family, under whose weight and secrets the search for her own self is conducted, places "Bedbugs" among the top achievements of contemporary Croatian and European literature.
Participants of the event will, besides the moderator herself, be Ana Brnardić, the editor of the book and Sanja Baković in the role of the moderator.
We are looking forward to welcoming you in Ljevak Bookstore, Zagreb!"
