Bridging East and West – İntrotema at Bookstan International Literature Festival 2025

In early July 2025, İntrotema participated in the Bookstan International Literature Festival, held from July 2 to 5 in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina. Organized by the influential publishing house Buybook, Bookstan is Sarajevo’s premier literary gathering. This year’s theme, “Fluid Borders”, explored how literature navigates cultural, geographical, and linguistic boundaries.

Bookstan hosted around 40 events, including panels, workshops, and youth programming. The festival emphasized translocal voices, multilingual work, and hybrid literary forms. Its guiding idea of “No East, No West” was reflected in multilingual programming and a commitment to cross-cultural conversation.

Key Focus Areas at Bookstan

At Bookstan, İntrotema focused on:

• Presenting our portfolio, especially fiction, youth, and illustrated works, to regional publishers and translators.
• Meeting editors and agents interested in borderland and hybrid narratives.
• Exploring collaborative translations, co-editions, and cross-market promotion.
• Observing trends in Southeast European literary scenes.

Over four days, we met with publishers from Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, and Slovenia. Several editors expressed interest in translating Turkish short stories and young adult novels. Conversations highlighted a growing appetite for works reflecting hybrid identities, multilingualism, and experimental forms. Translation rights were discussed not only as commercial opportunities but also as ethical gestures across cultures.

Looking Ahead

Bookstan’s intimacy, aesthetic seriousness, and dedication to dialogue make it a remarkable platform. We leave Sarajevo inspired, with new connections, promising translation leads, and renewed motivation to foster cross-border literary collaboration.