This year, according to the organizers, the chances are real that the publishers will gather in Pristina to exhibit and sell their publications. While for the publishers, the holding of the Fair is good news, the organizers hope that the situation with the pandemic will not worsen. Edon Zeneli, chairman of the Association of Publishers of Kosovo, which deals with the organization of this Fair, has confirmed the holding of the large book exhibition. "In all likelihood, the Fair will be held this year, hopefully we won't have another outbreak of the epidemic," confirmed Edon Zeneli.
The biggest book event in Kosovo will return to the capital. For two years in a row, the pandemic caused the Prishtina Book Fair to not be held. This year, according to the organizers, the chances are real that the publishers will gather in Pristina to exhibit and sell their publications. While for the publishers, the holding of the Fair is good news, the organizers hope that the situation with the pandemic will not worsen.
Edon Zeneli, chairman of the Association of Publishers of Kosovo, which deals with the organization of this Fair, has confirmed the holding of the large book exhibition.
"In all likelihood, the Fair will be held this year, hopefully we won't have another outbreak of the epidemic. It will begin on the first Tuesday of the month of June, which falls on the 7th, and continue until Sunday, June 12. This will be the 22nd edition in a row", confirmed Edon Zeneli.
In 2020, this Fair was not organized due to the measures established then as a result of the Covid-19 virus, which prevented the gathering of people in indoor and outdoor spaces.
The Book Fair, for the same reason, was not held even a year later, in 2021, although a completely identical organization, with even larger dimensions than the one in Pristina, was held that same year in Tirana. Despite the milder measures, the organizers decided not to risk public health, considering that the event gathers thousands of visitors.
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Since the situation with the pandemic is still not completely clear, the Fair will undergo some minor changes. Unlike other times, this year he will occupy not only the interior of the Red Hall of the Youth Palace, but also the exterior.
"The fair is an event that gathers a large number of people. Since this fair has not been held for two years, this year it is expected that there will be an even greater flow of people. For this reason, this year, we, as the Association of Publishers of Kosovo, have decided to place the publishing houses in a wider space, distributing them also in the part in front of the Red Hall in the open part of the Palace", he emphasized. Zeneli.
Organizing book fairs helps people tremendously because it enables them to have all the publishing houses in one place. Kosovo has several large publishing houses such as: "Artini", "Faik Konica", "Pema", "Buzuku", "KOHA", "Dukagjini" and others. But in recent years, there has been an increase in small publishing houses. Usually, the Fair gathers around itself almost all the publishing houses based in Kosovo, but also the publishing houses of other Albanian-speaking countries from Albania, North Macedonia and Montenegro, Serbia.
"The fair usually gathers 100 to 120 publishing houses and it will be like this this year as well. Recently, we have noticed an increase in new, small publishers and we will try to accommodate them, but always keeping in mind the space offered to us", Zeneli.
As one of the biggest book events, the Fair serves not only for buying and selling books, but also for advertising new publications.
Although the book has continued to be sold in bookstores and through online websites, the non-organization of the Fair for two years has damaged the publishing houses not only economically, but also in terms of recognizing and informing the public about new trends.
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"Not holding the fair is always a loss for publishers. The fair has always been a good opportunity to advertise new titles but also to sell them. Despite the fact that the citizens had the opportunity to buy the books physically in bookstores or even online, the fair is still an event that crowns the work and not holding it certainly had a negative effect", Zeneli said.
The many restrictions as a result of the pandemic, as well as the non-organization of the Book Fair, have economically damaged many publishing houses. This is also confirmed by the representatives of two of them, "Artini" and "Faik Konica".
"The lack of the Book Fair has normally hurt us a lot both in terms of sales and promotion of new titles because the fair creates a kind of long-term sale that lasts throughout that year. A new title presented at the Fair starts to be talked about and then written about and as a result that book continues to be sold throughout the year", said Artin Ahmeti from the "Artini" publishing house.
From the publishing house "Faik Konica" they said that this year, unlike the last Fair, they will come with about 35 new titles, also emphasizing the handicap that the lack of organization of the Fair has caused between the reader and the publisher.
the publisher's main connection with the reader is the fair. Therefore, not keeping it has damaged all the publishing houses, including us. Two years is a long time for not communicating with the reader, and the return of the Fair will be a good opportunity for all the publishing houses to catch up.
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The Book Fair, as the biggest book event in Kosovo, was held for the first time in November 1999, and since then it has been held in May or June. In almost a week, as long as this Fair lasts, it gathers writers, researchers, critics, students and people who love reading. What generally makes this event special, in addition to the most affordable prices, is the presence of writers from all over Albania and the organization of various cultural events.
For the last time, the biggest meeting between publishers, writers and readers took place in June 2019, when the 21st edition of the Book Fair was held in Pristina. The event opened with a call for the state to pay more attention to public libraries, since according to the data of the Kosovo Statistics Agency, in 2018 there were 120 thousand fewer readers registered in libraries than in 2017. In recent years, the Fair had about 40 thousand visitors for each edition.
