The official introduction and opening of our festival occured on the first of December, held at the legendary Hotel Bellevue[1] in Split, Croatia. The evening programme, titled „The secret literary capital of the Mediterranean“  took place in the Bellevue cafe with personal readings and discussion by Croatian and local authors (Tonka Alujević, Jasen Boko, Renato Baretić, Edi Matić, Dragan Markovina, Jurica Pavičić, Ivica Ivanišević, Siniša Kekez, Marina Vujčić, Anela Borčić) with Alida Bremer at the helm as the charming moderator keeping everything fluid. In between multiple readings there was a musical intermezzo by Duo Fascination (Tanja Čudina Bratković & Marija Mračević) in which popular songs were covered instrumentally with the violin and the cello.  In the background, our volunteers worked subtly and dilligently to ensure that the epidemiological safety measures were adhered to so our guests and participants could enjoy themselves with no worries.

([1] The hotel is located in the center of the city, near the most important cultural and historical sites, including the Diocletian’s Palace which our guests got to explore during our city tours. The building which houses the Hotel now was built in the 19th century as a typical palace of the time with its facade closing one side of the Prokurative, the biggest town square which represents the heart and sould of Split with its extraordinary acoustics and high popularity for hosting numberous musical and theatrical performances.)

December 2nd

The following day our international guests started arriving from early morning until the evening, where they were escorted back to the historical Bellevue Hotel for some rest and later on dinner and introductions. Along with our international guests others such as local authors, representatives of the city and cultural institutions joined us as well for greetings and well wishes.

It was a very cosy get-together and the best way to get to know each other in a small circle without an audience.

December 3rd

With everyone well rested and eager, our programme started in full swing with part one of the city tour „Walk and Talk in the City 1“ led by the professional guide, intriguingly detailed and highly capable Ivica Profaca.

Our guests had the pleasure (as did we) to explore the city core and sometimes forgotten parts of our complicated historical tapestry. Also, scattered through various locations of the tour we would be ‘ambushed’ by the young student actors of the Academy of Performing Arts where they would perform parts of Judita, an epic poem written by Marko Marulić, „the father of Croatian literature“. The actors recited or sang the texts in an impressive ambience and our guests were given the English version of the poem.

The first stop was at the Etnographic Museum of Split in which they have graciously participated by hosting our photo exhibition „My Mediterranean: Many Greetings from Albania, Croatia, Libya, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Malta, Morocco, Spain, Tunisia and Turkey”. The exhibition, which showcased personal photographs that the authors participating in the festival sent us (available also via our website), served as a backdrop for the first round table talk. We realised this exhibition with our project partners from Culture Hub Croatia.

Topics such as travel literature, wanderlust, longing and tourism were expanded on and discussed by Jasen Boko (CRO), Jonathan Bousfield (GB/CRO) and Uwe Rada (D), with Tanja Radmilo (CRO) serving as the moderator.

The second part of the tour took us even deeper into the city core with our guide peppering us with details and historical intricacies that even most of the locals could not say that they’re familiar with.

As the tour winded down we were greeted in the Café Central for some sustenance and our second table talk. This one was hosted by our very own Edi Matić and it concerned the issues of social and political developments on the coasts of the Mediterranean, with
Francesca Borri (I) and Jurica Pavičić (CRO) elaborating more on the topic with their both professional and personal diagnosis.

After a well-earned rest and dinner, the evening programme began with the third talk, “Mediterranean Origin in a Suitcase – About Migrations and Writing” moderated by our Alida Bremer (D), further expounded on by Alem Grabovac (D) and Dragica Rajčić Holzner (CH). Mrs. Ivna Žic (CH) had a special appearance with a video link because she was prevented from coming to Split at the last minute due to (the risk of a pandemic related to her work).

A brief pause was filled with the musical talents and performance by Matjaž Pikalo (SLO) and his trusty accordion which proved to be quite the invigorating half-time show.

Gonca Ozmen (TR) and Najwa Bin Shatwan (LB) also gifted us with their very own readings, with Ms Ozmen truly impressing with an unexpected fast paced, rap styled, performance in Turkish.

The days programme was finished off with a more scientific approach to the various issues the Mediterranean faces. The “Mediterranean from  the point of view of cultural anthropology: On islands, migrations, identities and allegiances, tourism and other important issues of the Mediterranean” was moderated by Vilma Benković (CRO) while the speakers were a pair of accomplished anthropologists Virginia Monteforte (MLT) and Tomislav Oroz (CRO).

December 4th

In the same vein as the previous day, Saturday started off with the second part of the city tour with Mr. Profaca with our first stop being in The Hall of the Literature Circle Split. Before the table talk started we had the pleasure of learning more about the legendary Marko Marulić and his works. The fourth talk, moderated by Bruna Bebić (CRO), included Ralph Hammerthaler (D), Arianne von Graffenried (CH) and Renato Baretić (CRO). The topic at hand delved into the creation of theatrical texts and scripts and how to show todays situation on the Mediterranean with the performing arts and film.

The tour continued into the early afternoon before ending on Peristil at the Café Luxor for a snack and another conversation concerning ecology, borders, the necessity of cooperation, and tourism. Our guests Senka Marić (BiH), Dragan Markovina (CRO) and Matjaž Pikalo (SLO) crafted an intriguing narrative which had captured the attention of both our party as well as the other (lucky) occupants of the café.

After another break and dinner everyone gathered in front of the Bellevue Hotel and proceeded to walk to the Arts Academy of Split, catching sight of the ice rink and festivities in the Strossmayer Park (or better know locally as Đardin). At the Academy we were greeted with the Director of the Gothe-Institut Zagreb Matthias Müller-Wieferig with a short introduction on “Our Mediterranean: Reflections, Crises and Dialogues Between Three Continents”. Following the introduction we had another part of the “Mediterranean Reads” readings and discussions, this time by Senka Marić (BiH), Ines Abassi (TUN), Nebojša Lujanović (CRO) and Marija Dejanović (HR/GR).

A musical performance by Fitzgerald & Rimini entranced the audience with a genuinely eclectic sound, most definitely earning them new fans.

The festivals busy schedule came to a close at the Marvlvs Library Jazz Bar where everyone got to relax, socialize and celebrate with a night cap or two.

December 5th

Sunday was the day designated for the departure of our participants throughout the day. Some who had flights later on in the day, such as the impressive Francesca Borri, stuck around a while longer and participated in a interview regarding her work and general impressions. Others explored the city a bit more, socialized and got ready for the trip back.

Overall impression:

As part of the organization I can say with the utmost certainty that our first ever, modest and hectic festival, was a success as much as the limits and epidemiological restraints allowed us to be. Perhaps a bit more even. The participants had nothing but kind words to say, and after a bit of a slow first evening (with most being tired from the trip, but we can also blame the South wind for some feeling some type of way), everyone relaxed so the atmosphere was jovial the entire duration of the festival.

One of the most impressive things was the media coverage of our work. Otherwise not exactly over-enthusiastic when it comes to culture, Croatian media have enthusiastically and extensively covered our festival from the very beginning. First, the local TV station „Jadran“ discussed all the details of the project and the festival in a long programme with Alida Bremer and Edi Matić, than, next day on the Croatian radio HRT programme was a talk and presentig of the full festival programm by Edi Matić; Than on the first evening the first programme of the state TV HRT was present – the report of our festival opened the most popular cultural programme that evening „Vijesti iz kulture“. In addition, the newspaper “Slobodna Dalmacija” (1) (2), (3), (4) the most important newspaper on the Croatian coast, presented the programme and the organisers with several large articles and published several interviews day after day (front page and double pages). Also various internet portals (Dalmacija Danas and Dalmatinski portal) covered the story about the festival. We were thrilled and amazed by the interest and it gives us huge hope that our project in Split will become very well established.

We are very optimistic for the future of our small association and have high hopes of making our festival a staple of the winter season in our windy town, and maybe even take it on the road.