NSK again part of Miroslav Krleža Festival
2 July 2025, 12.00
On 2 July 2025, at 12.00, the National and University Library in Zagreb (NSK) will host a special programme as part of the 14th Miroslav Krleža Festival, the 2025 edition of the annual cultural festival commemorating Miroslav Krleža (1893-1981), the giant of Croatia’s 20th-century literature and one of its greatest minds.
The Festival, which will this year be taking place from 28 June to 7 July, will once more bring together the leading authorities on Krleža and Krleža enthusiasts of various profiles and certainly create new Krleža’s readers through its rich programme. Apart from several venues in Zagreb, the Festival’s map this year will also include Koprivnica, whose museum will host part of the Festival.
“A living monument to Krleža”
In presenting this year’s Festival, its founder, author and director Goran Matović announced the staging of several Krleža’s works, an exhibition, roundtable and other festival events. Traditionally spotlighting Krleža as an always relevant author, the Festival is this year placing particular focus on the centenary of the publication of his travelogue Journey to Russia, whose staging at the Zagreb Academy of Fine Arts will open the Festival.
Along with the main programme at the Academy and the Zagreb Dance Centre, the Festival events will also be taking place at the Croatian State Archives, Josip Račić Modern Gallery, Koprivnica Museum and, of course, at NSK, the Festival’s partner since its inception.
A get-together and exhibition showcasing Krleža’s manuscripts
With the exhibition of Krleža’s manuscripts preserved as part of its holdings, NSK will again join the Festival in honouring Krleža as the leading figure of Croatian modern literature, a partaker in and astute chronicler of the turbulent events of the 20th century and the initiator of various cultural initiatives.
Featuring Krleža’s manuscripts preserved at NSK according to his own express wish, the exhibition and the accompanying get-together will reveal new details about the life and work of this canonical Croatian writer, noted for his always loud, clear and uncompromising denunciation of all ideologies and phenomena detrimental to society and the individual human being.
Apart from the Festival’s Director Goran Matović and Head of the NSK Manuscripts and Rare Books Collection Dr Irena Galić Bešker, other participants in the get-together will be Professor Lada Čale Feldman from the Zagreb Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Dr Suzana Marjanić from the Zagreb Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research, writer Marko Gregur and Pavle Bonča, from The Miroslav Krleža Institute of Lexicography.
Learn more about the Festival’s 2025 programme (Croatian text only).