ZVONA i NARI
Bells & Pomegranates
The Library
Interested in a book in Korean or Albanian or a dictionary of Macedonian language? You'd like to borrow a collection of contemporary Slovakian poetry or maybe you're more into the modern art? Your passion leads you into discovering independent zines and chapbooks?
All these books and many more you'll find on the shelves of our library which is organized between the main library room and ground floors of each of the four residency houses.
The house with the blue door hosts literature in various languages. The house with the red door holds children books. One of the houses near the main gate will offer you titles on visual arts (from history of theater, film and visual arts), computer sciences and new technologies, philosophy and history of ideas, which equally includes encyclopedias, works of classic European thinkers and books on dogs, cats and parrots. Finally, the little house near the vineyard has an impressive collection of titles on the history of socialist Yugoslavia.
We definitely welcome donations in books, though at the moment we are struggling to free up shelf space for new arrivals.
Donacije u knjigama su više nego dobrodošle, iako trenutno jedva pronalazimo mjesto na policama za novopridošle naslove.
Especially enjoyable part of the library is the big garden where you can sit or lie down under a pine tree and enjoy your read.
All writers are invited to bring along the books they have written/published and also to donate to the library any other title they think could contribute to the eclecticism of our collection. We’re especially interested in independent publications, books that with their design and experimental language broaden the horizons of creativity and literary expression. Bring us the voices of your favorite writers and pen-comrades, bring them all to Ližnjan, give us a chance to learn about you through the books that have shaped you - and we will let you read our world.
Our library has been recognized by the members of our immediate community who keep bringing the written material and photos from the history of Ližnjan and Istria. This way the library is also an archive for the documented oral history about the place we live in. We’re especially proud that patrons of our library include people from all walks of life. On our literary events you will meet aunt Milka Boljun (on the photo together with the library volunteer, Ivana Manojlović) who has through her whole life been a cultural activist responsible for many acts of solidarity and support in Ližnjan and elsewhere. If you talk to our audience, you will find here fishermen and farmers sitting next to the film directors and producers, school children and students with their professors, musicians, poets and intellectuals from Pula, Zagreb, Frankfurt, Ljubljana, Novi Sad…
One more thing: ZiN actively supports the local Biblioteka Brnestra, which is a publishing project that with the funding of the Municipality of Ližnjan and donations of the villagers publishes books on and about Ližnjan and written by authors from the Ližnjan area. All the books of the Biblioteka Brnestra are done on the volunteering basis of all involved: authors, editors, graphic designers etc. So far the collection includes five books which were published in the last four years, among them are four books of poetry: Potonule Planine – Anton Perkov, Žuta šatirana ruža – Josip Pip Škifić, Uzajamnost – Ana Mokorić, Tu bi tribalo pisati njezino ime – Davor Dužman and one reissued book of history journal writing from 1937. dealing with the painful history of WWI emigration camps for Istrians “C. i kr. ratni logori 1914-1918” – Joso Defrančeski.
At our library global and local not only speak to each other, they make an inseparable part of each other.
