Literary Evenings and Decameron 2020
Literary Evenings and Decameron 2020
While everyone was sleeping during the pandemic, the association focused a little more on reading and books. Not only was a literary club launched at that time, but some authors had the opportunity to present themselves as part of the project the Literary Evenings, and for the first time the CF officially published a book in its circulation – it was a collection of stories ’Decameron 2020 – Quarantine stories’
The project of literary evenings in the Cultural Front was launched with the aim of presenting young and unestablished local authors to Opatija and a wider audience. Genre was primarily represented by fantasy and SF, but also other novelties in some way related to the problems of young people. These were modest events in the living room of the CF, but they would often be filmed, after which the footage would remain on the the Youtube Channel.
The local audience was introduced by the Zagreb author Mateja Klemenčić with her autobiographical book Fitness and Wafers, which encourages a healthy attitude towards food and exercise. On the other hand, Rijeka writer Igor Rendić promoted his urban fantasy novel A Town Called River, located in Rijeka.
In parallel with the promotions, book club of fantastic literature took place, mostly in online form due to the conditions of the pandemic, so the Fifth Age by N. K. Jemisin, Another wonderful myth by Asprin, Hurin's children by J. R. R. Tolkien, Limits of Eternity by L. M. Bujold, Mine Eggs by M. Bulgakov, Artemis by Andy Weir and others...
The most visited promotion was certainly that of the Decameron 2020 literary collection. On that occasion, the authors of the stories that entered the collection gathered, and the presentation was led by editors Vesna Kurilić, Antonija Mežnarić and Ana Cerovac. It was also the first officially published book by the Cultural Front Association. The stories were written during the Spring Lockdown 2020 as part of an online literary event. As the initiative started from a community of fantasy lovers, within which it expanded the most, stories with elements of speculative fiction prevailed. More than 140 authors from all over Croatia participated. The collection captured and preserved the authentic spirit of the pandemic at its very beginning and was published in electronic form in the same year. With its printed edition, Kulturni front completed this project and distributed it to authors and city libraries throughout Croatia.
