Croatian Book Night 2025: To animals, from humans, with bookish love
23 April 2025
On 23 April 2025, marking this year’s World Book and Copyright Day and Croatian Book Day (22 April), the National and University Library in Zagreb (NSK) will host the opening of the 14th edition of the Croatian Book Night.
As Croatia’s annual national programme focusing on the popularisation of reading and promotion of books, the 2025 Croatian Book Night programme will again promote a wider public debate on the social status of the book and the importance of values associated with it in the contemporary society, for both the individual and the global community.
Literature – greatly indebted to animals
Reflecting the vital role and place of animals – ranging from the tiniest insects to majestic whales – in the natural world, literature has been greatly influenced by animals. Their presence in myths, legends and works of art from the earliest times to the present day as central characters, heroes as well as villains, narrators, symbols of ideas, moral values and the embodiments of the states of the human mind bears witness to the powerful impact that animals have always had on human culture.
Sadly, animals, along with our global ecosystem, have excessively been used in all other spheres of human activity and the consequences of that overuse have forced us to make the protection of endangered animal species one of our top priorities today. Wishing to make its contribution in this context, apart from exploring how through numerous literary worlds animals have shaped our worldviews, relationship to nature and to our own selves, the Night’s programme this year will also highlight the therapeutic benefits that animals bring us and re-examine the ethics of animal testing in food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries.
From Kafka to Snoopy – giving animals credit for shaping literature and popular culture
Acknowledging the decisive place which animals have had in the history of literature, the Night’s programme will spotlight the anniversaries of the publication of Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis (1915) and George Orwell’s Animal Farm (1945), as two major works of world literature featuring animals to convey their message.
The Night will also commemorate Doctor Dolittle, the popular doctor helping animals whose stories in a series of children’s books by Hugh Lofting first appeared in 1920, the boy hero Mowgli from The Jungle Book, by Nobel Prize laureate Rudyard Kipling, whose sequel was published 130 years ago, and bring the attention of the general public to the ideas put forward in Animal Liberation (1975) a groundbreaking work by the Australian philosopher and expert in bioethics Peter Singer in which he popularised the concept of speciesism.
Also, the 75th anniversary of the appearance of Charles Schulz’s Snoopy, the world’s most famous beagle, and the 95th anniversary of the launching of iconic comic strips featuring Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse will also remind the Night’s participants of how profoundly animals have shaped popular culture.
White deer, fawn buddies, seafaring tomcats – the fauna of Croatian literature
The 2025 Night’s programme will also revisit the imagery, main characters and morals of major works of Croatian literature spotlighting animals such as those by Vladimir Nazor (Bijeli jelen), Vesna Parun (Mačak Džingiskan i Miki Trasi), Anđelka Martić (Pirgo), Božidar Prosenjak (Divlji konj) and many others, in going back to which the Night’s participants will be expected to add their own favourites.
Coming after its highly successful, 2024 edition, this year’s Night is expected to once again bring together thousands of book lovers in the celebration of books, reading and the power of the written word to drive society towards a better future, which prospect is so desperately needed worldwide.
The organisers of the Croatian Book Night programme are the Publishers and Booksellers Association of the Croatian Chamber of Economy, National and University Library in Zagreb, Zagreb City Libraries, books-and-literature-oriented e-zine and web portal Moderna vremena, Croatian Publishers Licensing Society (ZANA) and the Croatian Association of School Librarians.