Croatian Book Month 2026: Stories – a path to discoveries
15 October – 15 November 2026
Bringing into spotlight natural sciences and scholarly books and calling for their popularisation, the slogan of this year’s Croatian Book Month is From stories to discoveries (Od priča do otkrića).
As Croatia’s major national programme promoting books and reading, it is traditionally organised by the Zagreb City Libraries under the auspices of the Croatian Ministry of Culture and Media and its rich programme will open on 15 October 2026 at the Virovitica City Library.
Libraries – where science is available to everyone
The Month’s events will spotlight scholarly resources and their central place in the totality of human knowledge. Although they represent a record of the insights of a relatively small number of outstanding individuals who have enabled humankind’s civilizational breakthroughs, their wide availability and accessibility made possible by libraries drives new research and creates conditions for human society’s further advancement.
Apart from the vital importance today of scientific literacy, the Month will also deal with the relationship between science and literature, especially through the genre of science fiction, the much-sooner-than-ever-expected realisation of the plots of some of whose most famous works has become a loud warning with regard to the current global challenges and their impact on the (near) future.
NSK joining the Month in celebrating great anniversaries in Croatian science and literature
The Month’s programme will include the celebration of the anniversaries of the births and deaths of the world-famous Croatian scholars such as Marin Getaldić, Nikola Tesla, Vladimir Prelog, Lavoslav Ružička and Mijo Kišpatić, as well as of notable Croatian writers Vladimir Nazor and Milan Begović.
In addition to participating in the commemoration of these greats of Croatian heritage and again hosting one of the Month’s central programmes, NSK will this year join it with as many as seven programmes.
Along with putting on its exhibition on Marin Getaldić at the Dubrovnik Natural History Museum, NSK will organise a webinar on the impact of the discoveries of Tesla, Ružička and Prelog and a special programme dedicated to the 315th anniversary of the birth of Ruđer Bošković (Ruggero Giuseppe Boscovich) and the 290th anniversary of the publication of his first scientific paper (De maculis solaribus, Eng. “About sunspots”, 1736), which will be held as one of this year’s NSK Heritage at Hand at CroAtrium events.
Also, NSK’s former and present users will be able to return overdue loans for free as part of the Library’s standard waving of the late return charges during the Month.
Science – as in science fiction!
In cooperation with SFera, a Zagreb-based society bringing together the lovers of SF and related genres, NSK will also organise the Science – as in science fiction! programme. Apart from a lecture and pub quiz on the rich history of Croatian SF titles, it will include a citizen science programme in the form of a research focusing on mapping the sciences represented in Croatian literature.
Make sure you don’t miss out on the exciting discoveries in the wealth of the Month’s stories – see you on 15 October, in Virovitica!
Our story of the universe is a book missing many pages, part of a text written in a language which we still cannot fully comprehend and whose last line has yet to be read.
And that is precisely why we keep on reading.
astrophysicist and science populariser and communicator Lana Ceraj, the 2026 Croatian Book Month Ambassador