On Friday, 13 February 2015, in Banski dvor, presentation was organised of a book “What a good book”. The presentation was attended by translator Zdravko Kecman and guests from Ljubljana: writer and poet Cvetka Sokolov, actress, poet and writer Saša Pavček as well as illustrator Damijan Stepančič.
Bilingual book “Kakšna dobra knjiga - Kakva dobra knjiga” was published by the Association of Slovenians “Triglav”. On behalf of the Association, Nataša Kajmaković greeted many visitors who completely filled the beautiful hall. It was followed by a speech by consul of the Republic of Slovenia in Banja Luka Mr. Branko Zupanc. Andrej Ribič, chairman of Elektro Ljubljana, that financially supported the publishing of the book underlined how important it was to invest in culture especially in works for children. The book contains stories, songs and riddles, written by modern Slovenian authors for children. Texts have been well illustrated and through that we get familiar with Slovenian youth literature. Authors of poems and stories are Tinka Bačič, Aksinja Kermauner, Majda Koren, Silvan Omerzu, Andrej Rozman Roza, Peter Svetina, Cvetka Sokolov and Anja Štefan, while their works have been illustrated by Suzana Bricelj, Zvonko Čoh, Marjan Manček, Silvan Omerzu, Andreja Peklar and Damijan Stepančič.
At the presentation, Cvetka Sokolov spoke about the participation to creating a bilingual book, while Damijan Stepančič discovered his favourite texts for illustrations. Students attending supply teaching lessons of Slovenian recited texts in Slovenian as well as translation of the texts to Serbian. All texts were translated by Zdravko Kecman, who spoke about the meaning of modern Slovenian literature for children and the difficulties he encountered while translating.
A bilingual book is also a bridge between cultures whereas by presenting the book we marked the 8th February, a Slovenian cultural holiday. Our guest was a versatile artist Saša Pavček, who spoke about the role of art in intercultural dialogue. Talking about Prešeren’s Zdravljica we recalled the greatest Slovenian poet. Damijan Stepančič, who illustrated Zdravljica and was awarded many times for his illustrations, said how he had worked on it and what he had wanted to underline by his illustrations. Seventh strophe of Zdravljica is the Slovenian national anthem, we listened Desanka Maksimović’s translation read by Ljiljana Sukara. Literary evening ended by reading Zdravljica in Slovenian.
Barbara Hanuš
