ne:Sajam: 20 Publishers Sell Books Outside the Book Fair
Publishers staying away from the official Book Fair on October 17 and 18 are running their own programs and selling books at fair prices at several addresses in Belgrade and across Serbia.
Rock and roll on paper in Cumic Alley, a poetry evening at the Readers’ Club, a language quiz in the Gvint pub: the program replacing the fair stands this weekend has unusual addresses. ne:Sajam, which publishers outside the official Belgrade Book Fair are holding on Saturday, October 17, and Sunday, October 18, 2026, has no single venue but a string of them, and a string of events that cannot be squeezed into one stand.
Who takes part in ne:Sajam, and where does it happen?
Events are spread across Belgrade and other Serbian cities where the participants work. The slogan is Publishers for a Better Society, and the offer is twofold: programs, and books sold at fair prices. 20 publishers take part:
- Arhipelag
- Akademska misao
- Clio
- Albatros
- Geopoetika
- Booka
- Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory
- Besani
- Besna kobila
- Fedon
- Biblos
- Blum
- Heliks
- IBulevar Books
- Makart
- Media Sfera
- Radni sto
- Saturn
- Nojza
- Partizanska knjiga
The same publishers held Our Fair last weekend in the courtyard of the Rectorate of the University of Belgrade, under the slogan “Publishers in Their Own Place.” ne:Sajam is therefore the second weekend in a row in which the same publishers run programs at their own addresses.
What is on the program on Saturday and Sunday?
Aleksandar Surbatovic, a writer and editor at the publisher Blum, listed the programs in an interview with N1. On Saturday:
- Heliks discusses the book “The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe”
- Makart hosts a literary and music program, “Rock and Roll on Paper,” in Cumic Alley
- Arhipelag stages a poetry evening, “Poems of First and Last Aid,” at the Readers’ Club
- Geopoetika offers “Readers Recommend,” a special edition of “My Poetics”
- Zenit Books, Nojzac, Bulevar Books and Futura organize a poetry performance, “Pouring Dread into Poetry”
- Besna kobila presents the music and stage event “Perfect Future: An Oratorio”
On Sunday, October 18, Clio prepares “Wall of Memory,” Biblos runs a language quiz in the Gvint pub, and Nova artija and the production company Nova poetika hand out the “Golden Oak” literary awards.
Why is Blum donating books instead of selling them?
Blum chose not to count on earnings on Sunday. Surbatovic explained that his publishing house believes ne:Sajam should not be commercial, so it decided to organize a book donation. Blum does not run the campaign, though. It is a traditional drive organized by the Prima International School in Belgrade, and Surbatovic described it like this:
“Their school community is raising funds for neonatology in Belgrade, we donate books, children buy books, and all the revenue will go precisely to those charitable purposes.”
In that arrangement Blum supplies the books and the school collects the money. The children buy them, and the entire sum goes to neonatology.
Surbatovic closed the interview with a line about the wider job the publishers are doing this weekend:
“Each according to their means, but with a full heart, we are trying to keep alive that fire which, I hope, is flaring up again. I am talking, of course, about the fair fire, which, I hope, will flare up again in the coming years.”
Why are the publishers not at the official Book Fair?
The publishers were not at the official Book Fair last year either, because they did not accept the terms offered to them. According to Gojko Bozovic, editor in chief and director of Arhipelag, the terms have only worsened since, so they stuck to the same decision, but this time they united.
In an interview with Danas, Bozovic argues that culture is under a degree of pressure from the authorities not seen in a long time, and that economic sanctions have been imposed on it for resisting. As examples of new forms of communication with the public, born in his words from the need for a culture of non-compliance, he names ne:Bitef, ne:Film Encounters in Nis, and now ne:Sajam, as well as the BlackList festival. On what lies at the foundation of everything, he said:
“At the foundation of culture is critical thinking. Without that substance, culture can be an illusion, it can be a lacquer finish, it can be getting by and adapting, but it cannot be culture.”
Bozovic summed up his view of culture’s staying power this way:
“Culture is not a convenient or entertaining thing. It has survived in hard times, and it will survive under this present pressure. It survives precisely because it does not comply. Above all, the most precious thing in all of this is the response of our audience.”
The claims about pressure from the authorities are Bozovic’s, and we did not have a response from state institutions or from the organizers of the official Book Fair. What can be checked this weekend are the addresses and the schedules: Saturday in Cumic Alley and the Readers’ Club, Sunday in the Gvint pub, and books at fair prices in between.
