ANNUAL MEDITERRANEAN LITERARY EVENT TO OPEN IN SPLIT SEPT 23

( Editorial: --> 1944 ) SPLIT, Sept 21 (Hina) - "Mediterranean Book", an annual literary event taking place in the southern Croatian port of Split, will this year commence on September 23 under the headline "Mediterranean Theme Book Week". Over nine days, two international conferences will take place, about 15 new books and the activity of domestic publishers and of branches of Matica Hrvatska, an institute nurturing Croatian culture, will be presented. The "Greek Influence on the Adriatic's Eastern Coast" conference, which is organised by the Split Literary Circle and the Institute for Scientific and Artistic Work of the Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences, will gather academicians from Croatia, Bosnia- Herzegovina, Albania, England, France, Canada and the United States. The second conference will see comparative literature scholars from Croatia, the Ukraine, Slovakia, Hungary, Germany and Italy discuss Croatian 19th century literature within the European context. "Mediterranean Book" will this year mark its tenth anniversary. (hina) ha jn 211740 MET sep 98