CROATIAN STAND OPENS AT FRANKFURT BOOK FAIR

FRANKFURT, Oct 13 (Hina) - The Croatian national stand was opened at the 51st fair of books in Frankfurt Wednesday. Twenty one publishers from Croatia are presenting at the stand. The Croatian stand and an exhibition of copies the work of Croatian late medieval writer Marko Marulic was opened by president of the Croatian writers' society Slavko Mihalic. Croatia finally managed to stand on its own two feet, Mihalic said adding that the struggle for language, literature, art, and culture in general played a very important role. Mihalic particularly pointed to Marko Marulic's contribution. At the time of the opening of the Croatian literature exhibition at the Frankfurt fair, also held was a promotional presentation of 15 writers from the region of the former Yugoslavia under the joint name of Grupa 99. Members of Grupa 99 issued a joint statement reading that they harshly opposed political and cultural chauvinism, which transformed political boundaries into boundaries among cultures. We believe that books and all cultural values must circulate and it is about time to overcome the current situation and create European democratic and cultural standards, the statement read. (hina) it