As part of the Ilica:Q’ART festival, the Book Block – The Book Initiative is organising a series of events on books and reading, titled Books in Search of Shop Windows and Lost Readers.

The Ilica:Q’ART festival is a culture project which aims to revive abandoned locations in Ilica, Zagreb’s main (and longest) street, by bringing music, art, dance performances, workshops for children and other pop-up events and surprises into the empty spaces. It will take place on May 18-25 in about 20 abandoned spaces along the Ilica street.

The Book Block Initiative is an NGO which aims to improve the status of books in culture, and science, and society in general.

The initiative’s programme is organised to stand out from other book events, by putting together various workshops, readings, lectures, and discussions on Zagreb’s bookshops, the Initiative said in a press release.

Starting May 19, and until the end of the Ilica:Q’ART festival, the abandoned space in Ilica 87 will become a temporary neighbourhood bookshop, a place where readers and all those interested can gather to discuss books.

Books will not be sold or bought in this bookshop. Instead, the idea is that the visitors should bring the books they had already read, and exchange them for the ones they wish to read. That way they can prolong the life of the books and “infect” as many people as possible with reading – passers-by, tourists, as well as the locals, the press release said.

Self-help books, expert literature, and books for children and young adults will be collected as part of a drive for women and children who are victims of violence.

Along with a series of workshops on the importance of books for people of all ages, a programme titled The Time Machine will be organised, presenting the history of Zagreb’s cult bookshops.