3rd - 13th December 2001
Dom Branitelja
When you have been homeless for a long time, you dream of a place and you almost certainly and up in a ditch. The organisers of the Fair have never admitted that they are homeless although they have been wondering for six years around Pula, not knowing until the last minute where the already announced Fair would be held.
Just before 7th Fair, when everyone already thought that the ditch was inevitable, while playing on a last card like the Russian Counts, as if they were dreaming - a real place came up; the former navy and Austro-Hungarian Marine Casino, and today Dom hrvatskih branitelja (Croatian Defenders Centre).
More than 250 Croatian publishers found their place in the secession halls, and more than 70 000 people passed through Centre.
A real festival of books and authors was born, and the long since announced international part of the Fair started to come about. Publishers from Slovenia, Italy, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as from England and Germany (through Croatian distributors), exhibited at the 7th Fair.
The Librarian's Weekend and The Translator's Meeting - two international gatherings marked the Fair and two of it's programmes Breakfast with the author and Twilight with a book were absolutely prefered.
That year 30 tons of books arrived to Pula and more than 20 tons stayed there.
More than 70 authors, editors and translators presented their work at the Fair.
The most visited presentation was the one of Darko Dukovski's book Istrian War and Peace; the most touching was the hommage to Tom Durbešić; the longest Breakfast with the Author was the one with Enes Kišević; the bast party of the Fair took place in the Ćuk Inn. The Fair's audience got a new favourite - Dušan Karapatský.
Mauricio Ferlin created a new Fair-logo - a full-figured lady riding a book. Organisers who always welcome innocent scandals, were happy that the logo caused stormy reactions of the ever-present "analysts". The Fair's audience immediately grew found of the bold lady.
For the first time, the organisers of the Fair called themselves book dreamers, and Bookfair in Istria - Dreamlike Bookfair in Istria. That time it wasn't just a marketing trick - at the Fair people were really dreaming.
