“Reading is a must – no matter what (where, when and how)!”: Croatian Book Night 2025 opens at NSK
On 23 April 2025, the National and University Library in Zagreb (NSK) hosted the opening of the 2025 Croatian Book Night, whose over 1,100 programmes in the upcoming days will bring together as many as 330 institutions on more than 260 locations all across Croatia.
The Library once again hosted the opening of Croatia’s annual national programme marking World Book and Copyright Day and Croatian Book Day (22 April).
After a welcome address by the NSK Director General Professor Ivanka Stričević and introductions by the Director of the Zagreb City Libraries Dr Sunčica Ostoić, President of the Publishers and Booksellers Association of the Croatian Chamber of Economy Slavko Kozina and Envoy of the Croatian Minister of Science, Education and Youth and State Secretary Zrinka Mužinić Bikić, the Night’s 2025 edition was officially opened by the Envoy of the Croatian Minister of Culture and Media and State Secretary Krešimir Partl.
Tamara Kraus, from the KARIKA koja nedostaje market research agency, presented the results of the latest survey of the Croatian citizens’ reading and book-related habits and attitudes, conducted in April 2025.
Indicating a slowdown in the negative trend in Croatia in the last five years in terms of a marked loss of interest in reading among the general public, the survey’s results show that even though books continue to be less and less bought, the increase in the number of books borrowed from libraries is encouraging.
Winners of the 2025 Croatian Book Night competition announced
The President of the Croatian Association of School Librarians Vanja Jurilj announced the winners of this year’s Night’s competition which the Association organised for primary and secondary-school pupils.
Along with the presentation of the award-winning texts, which brought into spotlight the indispensable place of animals in literature and their role in putting across the messages of many famous literary works, the programme included the exhibition of Croatian Book Night-themed cartoons by Stipe Kalajžić and Dobrila Zvonarek.
NSK Croatian Book Night-themed escape room event brings together lovers of mystery
Just a couple of hours after the Night’s official launch, the Library organised ZOOBookathon, its 2025 escape room event held as part of the Night’s programme and prepared in cooperation with the Fox in a Box company.
After the 2024 NSK escape room programme brought into spotlight the author of the iconic works of Croatian children’s literature and a six-time nominee for the Nobel Prize Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić (1874-1938), this year’s NSK escape room was an exploration of the fascinating animal world hiding in the Library’s collections., in line with this year’s Night’s theme.
The event attracted almost 500 participants of all ages, taking them on a unique adventure through the Library’s spaces and featuring animal-focused puzzles whose solving helped them to learn more about NSK as Croatia’s largest library.
Bookctopus’s supersmart appeal: Reading is a must – no matter what (where, when and how)!
The 2025 Croatian Book Night is devoted to the vital place of animals in literature and popular culture, with Bookctopus as its supersmart mascot calling everyone’s attention to the importance of reading – no matter what (where, when and how).
Apart from 180 public libraries and numerous schools and kindergartens, the 2025 Night’s more than 1,100 events will also be taking place in museums, hospitals, elderly care homes, even prisons.
The Night’s participants of all ages will celebrate books and reading in parks, castles, pubs, on archaeological sites, the means of public transport, even on ships and trains, while books will be made available at affordable prices in bookstores, antiquarian bookshops and online until the end of April.
Famous pens and minds, special television broadcasts
The participants in the Night’s events all across Croatia will include famous Croatian writers and other artists, such as painters and musicians, as well as psychologists. Some of them will be Ivana Bodrožić, Zoran Ferić, Rene Medvešek, Rujana Jeger, Marina Šur Puhlovski, Julijana Matanović, Monika Herceg, Ivana Šojat, Ana Horvat, Zdenko Bašić and others.
The Third Channel of the Croatian Radio Television in collaboration with the VIDA television will be airing special broadcasts in which the complex relationship between humans and animals will be presented from the anthropological, ethnological, legal, biological and philosophical perspective.
To animals, from humans – with bookish love
This year, in line with the Night’s theme, all profit from the sale of the Night’s promotional T-shirts, bags and other merchandise will be donated to Zagreb-based Plavi križ, while several other animal welfare charities will receive book donations which they will be able to offer for sale at their online auctions and thus obtain resources to fund their work.
Also, the Night continues to support the efforts aimed at providing the Ukrainian refugees in Croatia with publications in their own language by making available the titles of Ukrainian publishers in Croatian public libraries.
Supported by the Croatian Ministry of Culture and Media, Croatian Publishers Licensing Society (ZANA), City of Zagreb, 24 sata media company, Večernji list daily and VIDA television production company, the 2025 Croatian Book Night is organised by the Publishers and Booksellers Association of the Croatian Chamber of Economy, National and University Library in Zagreb, Zagreb City Libraries, book market-focused association Knjižni blok – Inicijativa za knjigu, Croatian Publishers Licensing Society (ZANA), books-and-literature-oriented e-zine and web portal Moderna vremena and the Croatian Association of School Librarians.
Photo by: Mirna Bartolić and Hrvoje Ryznar