The festival's creative director, Seid Serdarevic, editor in chief of the Fraktura publisher, said in his opening address he was pleased that for the sixth year in a row Fraktura had managed to come up with a festival programme which attracted such a large audience.
During the festival, until September 8, Zagreb and Split will host about 100 authors, artists, illustrators, filmmakers and translators from 17 countries. They will participate in some 60 programmes, literary encounters, book launches, film screenings, round tables and concerts.
Addressing those in attendance on behalf of Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, Deputy Culture Minister Iva Hraste Soco praised the festival as an intensive art experience offering "a feast" for those "for whom art and literature are a profession, a hobby and a passion, existence and the meaning of life."
The Culture Ministry has recognised that creative force and been consistently following it for years, she said, confident the festival will have another successful edition next year.
The guest of the first panel, "Disclosure", was Polish author Olga Tokarczuk.