SASA editions presented at the 66^th International Belgrade Book Fair

The editions of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts were presented at the International Belgrade Book Fair, at Ivo Andrić Hall, on Thursday, 26 October. SASA publishing activities were discussed by Academician Zoran Knežević, SASA president, Academician Nebojša Lalić, SASA general secretary and Academician Miro Vuksanović, SASA Library director.

As noted, in the last year, since the previous Book Fair, the Academy published 54 editions overall, 15 of which are conference proceedings, 11 monographs, 10 journal issues, 13 catalogues, four bibliographies and one volume of the Serbian Encyclopaedia. The three-volume edition titled ‘Presidents of the Society of Serbian Letters, Serbian Learned Society, Serbian Royal Academy, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts’ was presented on this occasion, for which SASA has received the Award for the Best Publishing Venture of the Year. The editor-in-chief is Academician Zoran Knežević, while Academician Živorad Čeković is editor of the publication. This publication on presidents of the Academy and its forerunners encompasses 42 biographies whose authors are academicians, university professors and research associates. The biographies are chronologically listed, per the first term, since some presidents were at the helm of the institution several times, and it covers the historical period between 1841 and the presidential elections in 2023. The extensive records of this three-volume edition are arranged as follows: the first volume introduces presidents of the Society of Serbian Letters and the Serbian Learned Society, the second volume features presidents of the Serbian Royal Academy, and the third one presents presidents of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts until this year’s elections.

It was pointed out that the publication on presidents corresponds to the edition dedicated to the life and work of female members of the Academy, creating a thematic and formal unit. Both, according to the biography type of publication, represent a considerable contribution to Serbian culture and scientific history, as well as to fostering cultural memory. The third volume of the publication ‘Life and Work of Female Members of the Serbian Learned Society, Serbian Royal Academy and the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts’ has been announced, and it will feature: Svetlana Mihailovna Tolstaya, Nada Milošević-Đorđević, Zagorka Gavrilović, Svetlana Velmar-Janković, Mirjana Živojinović, Isidora Žebeljan, Jelena Milojković-Đurić, Zoya Popović, Elena Guskova, Angeliki Laiou, Aksiniya Dzhurova and Gabriella Schubert.

The sixth volume of the Code of Emperor Stefan Dušan – Hopovo transcript, which was compiled and accompanied by Professor Đorđe Bubalo’s scholarly texts and edited by Academician Kosta Čavoški and Vladimir Radovanović, PhD, has been singled out as a significant edition. The book has been prepared as a joint edition of the SASA and the Museum of the Serbian Orthodox Church, while Službeni Glasnik Publishing House from Belgrade carried out printing.

Academician Miro Vuksanović drew particular attention to the edition titled ‘Accession Speeches of Serbian Academicians (1886-1947)’, published in three volumes, in 2020, 2021 and 2022, pointing out that ‘not only does this major collection have a value as a document about a period of work of the Serbian Academy, but it is also a unique history of Serbian science, art, rhetoric, style and language in an elite venue which the national academy represents for every nation’.

The following catalogues accompanying exhibitions organized at the SASA Gallery can be singled out from the abundant publishing work of the Academy:  Olga Jevrić – Composition and Structure; Gračanica – The Brilliance of Art in the Age of King Milutin; Sava Halugin – A Call to Enthusiasm; Starring – Miodrag Tabački; Milorad Bata Mihailović – A Centenary of Birth of an Academician Rebel;  Miodrag Mića Popović – the Art of Permanent Rebellion. When it comes to proceedings from conferences held at the SASA, the following were commended: How to Reduce Ragweed, an Enemy to People’s Health; Roma People’s Contribution to the National Culture in Serbia; Dobrica Ćosić’s Novels; Jovan Dučić – a Poet and a Diplomat; Literary Critic and Historian Svetislav Vulović; Energy Power and Climate Changes and the Role of Nuclear Energy Power in Energy Transition, as well as monographs: Flora of Serbia III; Nikola Dobrović – Life, Work, Times (in the Serbian and English languages), Poetry of Jovan Dučić, German Medieval Literature and Vital Data on the State of Science in Serbia.