Project duration: 1. 1. 2020–30. 11. 2021

List of works (translations into Slovene):
– Karl Modig: Döden är inget skämt. Translation from Swedish: Danni Stražar.
– Martine Glaser: Mij pak je niet. Translation from Dutch: Stana Anželj.
– Gideon Samson: Eilanddagen. Translation from Dutch: Katjuša Ručigaj.
– Ivona Březinová: Řvi potichu, brácho. Translation from Czech: Diana Pungeršič.
– Mina Lystad: Fake. Translation from Norwegian: Marija Zlatnar Moe.
– Tomáš Končinský, Barbora Klárová: Překlep a Škraloup. Translation from Czech: Diana Pungeršič.
– Carolina Schutti: Einmal muss ich über weiches Gras gelaufen sein. Translation from German: Tina – Štrancar.
– Gaëlle Josse: Le Dernier Gardien d’Ellis Island. Translation from French: Jedrt Lapuh Maležič.

Not a joke! is our motto for this year’s book selection. The acronym is NAJ, in Slovene it means BEST. So, it’s not a joke we have high standards when it comes to quality of children’s and young adult literature nor it’s not a joke that maintaining these standards and surviving in publishing world for small publishers in small countries is hard as hell. And keeping our young readers from screens and motivate them to read actual books – which is the main goal of our publishing programme and this project – is even harder.

Our main selection of books contributes to diversity of literature as works, genre and authors are underrepresented in Slovenia. They encompass topics such as suicide, grief, tobacco addiction, autism, fake news, poverty, search for identity and immigration issues. All deserve a place in books and books themselves are a starting point for broader reflection on these issues. We’re balancing these serious themes with more positive perspective on teenage romance, which is not a joke either, and a funny view on ageing for our younger readers. Our aim is that the project itself would impact the young readers’ life in a positive manner and would help them make good decisions and build strong moral values as well as stress importance of relationships within society, family and transnationality.

The major part of our activities will be dedicated to marketing, public relations and sales promotion in order to broaden and deepen our number of readers. We are going to invite two writers to Slovenia to build partnerships and contacts with Slovene readers and writers. While performing the project we are going to develop our capacity in international way.