Pula hosts 32nd Istria Book Fair with ‘La vita è bella’ theme

The 32nd Istria Book Fair, known as ‘Sa(n)jam knjige u Istri’, will take place in Pula from November 27 to December 6. Held at the Casa dei Difensori croati, the event will host over 100 authors, philosophers, artists, and theorists from Croatia, the surrounding region, and around the world.

The theme for this year’s edition is ‘La vita è bella’ (Life is Beautiful). The festival aims to explore this concept through various mediums, including literature, philosophy, visual arts, photography, performance, and cinema. The program will feature literary presentations, roundtables, exhibitions, and film screenings.

A central focus of the event is the essay ‘Techniques for Noting Life’ by Bosnian writer and journalist Emir Imamović Pirke. The festival seeks to examine whether beauty can exist within life despite pain, loss, and uncertainty, moving beyond hedonistic interpretations to find meaning in the full breadth of human experience.