ZVONA i NARI
Bells & Pomegranates
About ZiN
In 10 years ZVONA i NARI have welcomed more than 300 writers, poets, translators, editors, publishers, librarians and other book people from around the world.
A LIBRARY AND A LITERARY RESIDENCE ALL IN ONE
ZVONA i NARI, Ližnjan, Istria, Croatia
Our mission
The main goal of ZVONA i NARI is to emphasize the social aspect of book as a medium. For us, literature is first and foremost a form of communication. Yes, this communication is somewhat delayed, broken up, occasionally even appearing one-sided, but the fact remains that books work only if people make them work.
In this sense, literature has a very strong social function and a part of what we do here in Ližnjan is putting that social function of literature to the test. A community can be improved and enriched through any creative, constructive, positive activity so we are attempting to help our community grow through what we enjoy doing and through what we do best. In fact, as a result of that interaction between literature and community, we find that both have a chance to grow.
At the same time, we believe that ZVONA i NARI are slowly growing into a community in itself, a small republic of letters, and we invite you to join us and build it with us further.
PREVIOUS GUESTS @ ZiN: MARINKO KOŠČEC, IVANA PERUŠKO, MAJA GREGL, VLADO FRANJEVIĆ, RAJKA POLJAK FRANJEVIĆ, DINKO TELEĆAN, IGOR ŠIPIĆ, TVRTKO KLARIĆ, ŽELIMIR PERIŠ, DRAŽEN HORVAT, BARBARA HORVAT, SANJA LOVRENČIĆ, LJILJANA CRNIĆ, SANJA PETROVIĆ, NEVENA UGRENOVIĆ, DORTA JAGIĆ, LUDWIG BAUER, LIDIJA DUJIĆ, STIJEPO MIJOVIĆ KOČAN, MIRJANA SMAŽIL PEJAKOVIĆ KOČAN, TAMARA BAKRAN, GORAN MAJETIĆ, DAMIR RADIĆ, TOMISLAV DOMOVIĆ, KRISTINA KEGLJEN, SANJA NIKČEVIĆ, LASLO VEGEL, ANGELA PATAKI, ALEN KAPIDŽIĆ, ENVER KRIVAC, ZORAN KRUŠVAR, MORIS MATELJAN, TEA TULIĆ, ZORAN ŽMIRIĆ, IVAN BOŠKO HABUŠ, IVA PEJKOVIĆ, ĐURĐA KNEŽEVIĆ, KRISTINA MIGNON, MORANA ŽUNEC, MILAN RAKOVAC, TIBOR WEINER SENNYEY, VIRAG BALOGI, TATJANA PLJAKIĆ, SLAĐANA MILJKOVIĆ, DANA PETKOV, BOJAN SAVIĆ, JASNA VIŠNJIĆ, LJILJANA GAVRILOVIĆ, VLADIMIR KEPIĆ, MIODRAG JAKŠIĆ, PREDRAG JAKŠIĆ, ĐURO VIDMAROVIĆ, TANJA STUPAR-TRIFUNOVIĆ, MAJA KLARIĆ, ADRIANA GIACCHETTI, GIANLUCA PACIUCCI, SONGUL ARSLAN, CECILE DENIARD, ZVJEZDANA JEMBRIH, JURE KOKEZA, CAITLIN McGUIRE, BOJAN KRIVOKAPIĆ, GERMAIN DROOGENBROODT, ANA JASMINA OSEBAN, TOMAŠ ESCHER, JENNIFER CARR, JONATHAN HUSTON, IRA TRIVEDI, ANA BOŽIČEVIĆ, SOPHIA LE FRAGA, IVANA MANOJLOVIĆ, IVA BARKOVIĆ, IVANA RADENOVIĆ, ILEANA KURTOVIĆ, TOMICA ŠĆAVINA, ROLAND ORCSIK, JAMES HOPKIN, GIOVANNI AGNOLONI, SIGNE ROM RASMUSSEN, FEDERICO LEGUIZAMON, DEJAN KOBAN, NEŽKA STRUC, BLAŽ BOŽIČ, JUS SKRABAN, INES LAMPREIA, MARTEEN INGHELS, ALEXANDRA RANIERI, DANIEL ALLEN COX, MARK AMBROSE HARRIS, PALME, MAJA VRANČIĆ, ROMAN TURCEL, ROMAN BIČEK, VERONIKA GONCOLOVA, DENYSE WOODS, ZOLTAN DANYI, SEONG-AH LEE, VERA VUJOVIĆ, ŽARKO MILENIĆ, GABOR LANCZKOR, IVAN SRŠEN, IVAN VIDAK, SZABOLCS BENEDEK, CASANDRA IOAN, DENES KRUSZOVSZKY, TAMTA MELASHVILI, IRENA PLEJIĆ PREMEC, ADRIANA KRAMARIĆ, HRVOJE HANZEC, MADELEINE BECKMAN, STAN LAFLEUR, DRAŽEN KATUNARIĆ, BECCA ROSE HALL, MORGAN MANSOUR, NEVA LUKIĆ, DONNA GLEE WILLIAMS, AMBIKA THOMPSON, RACHEL NEWTON, MARKO MILADINOVIĆ, ANNA ALLENBACH, STEPHANE MICHEL, LEAH CHAMBERLAIN, TANJA RADMILO, SINIŠA STOJANOVIĆ, JANE FLETT, BENEDEK TOTTH, IRENA KRČELIĆ, MIHAELA PERKOVIĆ, MIRKO BOŽIĆ, JAMES METZE, SAM ALLINGHAM, JOHN McCARTHY, MORELLE SMITH, RYAN VAN WINKLE, ERNAD OSMIĆ, BILJANA MILOVANOVIĆ ŽIVAK, DENIS i ANITA PERIČIĆ, CHARLES POTTS, DMETRI KAKMI, CAMERON ROGERS, MICHAEL GREGORY STEPHENS, SUSAN WOLAN, DENIS GILJEVIĆ, MILO JUKIĆ, LIDIJA DEDUŠ, SINIŠA MATASOVIĆ, MARITZA STANCHICH, RIET DELSING
Q: How many people does it take to run a literary residence?
A: A family.
Q: How do you imagine your ideal home?
A: As a library.
THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE PROJECT:
Mixing up the private with the public, we hope to have designed a concept everyone can benefit from; and by everyone we mean the local community of Ližnjan and Istria, visiting writers, artists, scholars, participants in the local and international literary scene, students from the area, but also the people from all over the world who use books to connect with one another.
About Natalija, Ognjen & Ljubomir
The core crew of ZVONA i NARI consists of these three: Natalija, Ognjen & Ljubomir. They are a family but, as of recent, also literary partners (in 2015. together they authored a picture-book "Škura, škura boška" [Dark, Dark Woods]).
Natalija Grgorinić & Ognjen Rađen have been writing for a while now: they've published two collections of short stories and six novels (most recently, in 2016. "Blagoslovljena" [Blessed]). They've earned a MFA degree in creative writing at Otis College of Art & Design in Los Angeles, CA (2005.) and a PhD in literature at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH (2012.) with their thesis on collaborative aspects of literary authorship. They translate to and from Croatian, English, Italian and German, and have edited a dozen or so volumes of prose and poetry.
Being writers, they flatter themselves they are good at spotting what each and every guest at ZVONA i NARI needs, and believe to have created a place that's pretty close to what an ideal literary residency can be.