about us

KIKINDA SHORT
short story festival in Serbia
Organizer: Public library Jovan Popovic, Kikinda
Project coordinator: Srdjan Papic
Since now we have more than 50 young storytellers from 13 countries from Europe.
We've published three books
We promoted Festival in Belgrade (Serbia), Zagreb(Croatia), Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Szeged (Hungary) and Maribor (Slovenia)
Contact: srdjanpapic @ yahoo.com



Every time there is a talk about short story as a genre it’s hardly possible not to mention its relation with novel, where that relation, in short, can be reduced to the constatation that short story is unjustly put aside and undeservedly underestimated. We can see this is true when we put the things vice-versa – in the studies on the characteristics of the novel as a genre the short story is hardly ever mentioned. Those who study the genre/genres often show their surprise due to this relation, basing it mostly on the social element and reception, that is to say on the assumption that the shortness of the story is mostly responsive to the rhythm of life nowadays, and therefore, the situation should be like this: when it comes to being read, it should be quite opposite to what the things stand, and people should bring more often a short story selection than a novel to the cash register in a bookshop. However, it’s highly likely that the reason of disregarding the short form lies in what is considered to be its advantage. In short, the speed of the enter and the even faster exit strategy disables it to compete with the other aspects of art/fun that find their purpose in offering the consumers the possibility of escaping from reality. The magic of short story is not what people search nowadays, it will not save you from the dullness of everyday life nor does it have enough room to lull you with the pictures of the worlds that are happier and more beautiful that the one you are in. That’s what makes the audience concentrated towards this form special - they don’t see the time spent with the book as another way of merely spending it but as a possibility of looking at reality from an unusual and quite a different angle, or of catching in just a minute something that is there in the air but can materialize and become touchable and solid only with a skillful writer. In short, it’s actually for such an audience that we started the short story festival.