Exhibition marking 70 years of Croatia’s iconic teenage magazine on view at NSK by 22 Nov 2024

By 22 November 2024, the National and University Library in Zagreb (NSK) will be hosting the exhibition taking place as part of the 2024 Croatian Book Month as a way of marking the 70^th anniversary of the publication of the first issue of Modra lasta, Croatia’s longest-running teenage magazine (Dragi Lastane!).

The exhibition, which NSK organised in cooperation with the Školska knjiga publishing company, Croatian School Museum and Croatian Association of School Librarians, opened on 5 November 2024.

After a welcome address by the NSK Director General Professor Ivanka Stričević, who emphasised the legendary magazine’s pivotal role in stimulating creativity and spreading knowledge among countless generations of young readers, the present visitors were addressed by Dr Ante Žužul, the Chairman of the Board of the Školska knjiga company, which has published Modra lasta since 1968.

Following the addresses by the President of the Croatian Association of School Librarians Vanja Jurilj and Director of the Croatian School Museum Anita Zlomislić, the Museum’s curator and library adviser Dr Štefka Batinić, who also authored the exhibition catalogue’s foreword, elaborated on the magazine’s place among other Croatian magazines for children throughout history.

The exhibition’s preparation and its content, as well as the dynamic exhibition programme, spotlighting the crucial events and individuals in the seven decades of the magazine’s publishing, was presented by Jozefina Ćurković, editor at the Školska knjiga company and one of the exhibition’s authors, after which the exhibition was opened by the Envoy of the Croatian Minister of Culture and Media and head of the Ministry’s programme aimed at the popularisation of culture and art among children in remote Croatian regions (Ruksak (pun) kulture) Maja Zrnčić.

Lastan – the “big brother” to Croatian teenagers throughout the decades

Spotlighting Lastan, the magazine’s hugely popular agony uncle, the exhibition is featuring the most representative of the magazine’s issues throughout the decades, a documentary on the magazine’s history by Irena Škorić and other content illustrating all the transformations and stages that Modra lasta has gone through so far. Also, it gives an overview of the iconic magazine’s development from its first issue to its current form from the perspective of the contribution that a great number of dedicated professionals in various fields made to it since its inception.

Modra lasta in the NSK collections – and much more

The Library holds in its collections all the popular magazine’s issues, which have been a sort of a “teenage bible” for adolescents in Croatia since 1954. Apart from workshops for primary school children and roundtable discussions, the exhibition programme will also include a symposium for school librarians and teachers on the significance of teen magazines and magazines for children in stimulating creativity and popularising reading among children and young people as well as in terms of their potential as an immensely useful teaching aid.

The exhibition, authored by Jozefina Ćurković, Vanja Jajić, Melita Povalec and Ana Pehar, from the Školska knjiga publishing company, was organised as part of the NSK project authored by the Head of the NSK Marketing and Communications Section Maja Priselac and NSK Library Adviser for School Libraries Kristina Romić, with the support of the Croatian Ministry of Culture and Media.