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Dear Friends and Colleagues
Warmest greetings from Sanje Publishing. Sanje is one of the finest book publishers in Slovenia, producing over 50 titles a year and publishing quality fiction and nonfiction for adults and children. Sanje is also a music publisher and is very active in cultural event production. The word 'sanje' has a beautiful meaning in the Slovenian language: the word translates to dreams, and that is exactly what we aim to do: we believe that by publishing beautiful books, we ignite dreams in the night of a thousand years.
Following Slovenia's highly successful appearance as the Guest of Honour at last year's Frankfurt Book Fair, our country is ready to take centre stage at the Bologna Book Fair. Slovenia will appear as the GUEST OF HONOUR at the prestigious Bologna International Book Fair 2024, cementing its place on the world stage as a nation rich in imaginative children and youth literature and with an exceptional illustration heritage.
Sanje Publishing invites you to visit us and look at our beautiful, dreaming books. You can find us at the Slovenian collective stand in Pad. 29, Stand C/32 – D/31. Don't hesitate to contact us by email (urednistvo@sanje.si) and/or book a meeting with us in Bologna.
We warmly invite you to take a glimpse at the selection of our children's titles listed below and browse through our Spring Children's Books Catalogue. If a title sparks your interest, please don't hesitate to contact us.
The highlights of this year are three very special protagonists: THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL, a beautiful new edition of Hans Christian Andersen's timeless fairy tale revived by modern, exceptional illustrations; LITTLE SLEEPY STAR, an endearing, humorous, stirring fairy tale, a favourite of Slovenian children; and POEMS OF THE WANDERING CAT, an exquisite collection of poems by Svetlana Makarovič, the grande dame of Slovenian poetry, illustrated by 32 of Slovenia's most renowned illustrators – all of these gems just waiting to be discovered.
The highlight from our adult fiction catalogue worthy of your attention is ALAMUT, the best-selling Slovenian novel of all time. Epic, thought-provoking, mesmerizing, and so much more, ALAMUT tells the gripping story of one man's unchained drive to play God and the human price paid by the innocent to fuel that drive. A novel that, through the Nietzschean motto of Nothing is true, everything is permitted, echoed in the beliefs and reflected in the actions of the main protagonist, Hassan ibn Sabbah, questions the ideas of radical nihilism. The ultimate bestseller by Vladimir Bartol has risen to world fame 50 years after its publication, as its author has interestingly foretold. The novel has sold over 100,000 copies in Slovenia, a huge success for only a small market of 2 million. It has risen to a bestseller status in France (published by Les Éditions Noir sur Blanc) and Turkey and, given its content as a political allegory, has gained a new significance after 9/11. The novel has been translated into over 30 languages, including English, French, Russian, Persian, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Croatian, Serbian, Czech, Slovak, Finnish, Hungarian, Lithuanian, Latvian, Turkish, Greek, Korean, Arabic, and Indonesian. In 2022, the novel was published in Brazil by Morro Branco Publishing House and in Poland. It is scheduled for publication in China and has been re-published in the US by North Atlantic Books. It is also worth mentioning that Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed, one of the most successful video games in history, drew its inspiration from Bartol's Alamut. Recently, the world-famous avant-garde Slovenian band LAIBACH launched a world premiere of their music spectacle inspired by the novel Alamut. We have received several inquiries for TV series and film rights adaptations throughout recent years, including from Oscar-winning film directors. Most recently, a high-quality Turkish producer has expressed interest in adapting Alamut as a TV series (negotiations in progress).
We are very much looking forward to meeting you!
Warmest regards,
Sanje
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THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL
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A modern edition with mesmerizing illustrations. Specially adapted for the 21st-century audience.
The Little Match Gir is a timeless fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, one of the greatest fairytale writers ever. It is about a poor girl who wanders through the snowed-in streets on New Year's Eve without being able to sell a single box of matches. She lights the last three matches to keep warm, each flame evoking visions of a happier life. The lights rise higher and higher, all the way to the stars... until she beholds a falling star, shooting across the sky.
Inspired by Andersen's unforgettable fairy tale, the renowned Slovenian artist Polona Lovšin spent years dreaming up The Little Match Girl like never done before. And yet, there are still many of them on the Earth nowadays. Little match girls, that is.
In this new edition, Sanje reawakens the moving story of a dying child's dreams and hopes. The classic fairytale is revived by modern, exceptional illustrations, which, just like the fairytale itself, make us question the values of our time through their beauty.
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THE LITTLE SLEEPY STAR
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Suddenly, it all becomes clear. This is why everything on Earth is upside down. This must be why the children weep because they cannot sleep, why the sailors cannot find their way, and why the poet is searching for a rhyme to the word friend in vain. A star was missing in the sky.
Like all good fairy tales, Little Sleepy Star gives direct but unintrusive lessons on values such as responsibility, love and acceptance. The poetry and warm humour suffusing the text have bewitched generations of Slovenian children for over half a century.
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POEMS OF THE WANDERING CAT
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Svetlana Makarovič indubitably stands at the forefront of Slovenian poetry, having authored many superb works of art. She excels at crafting poignant, evocative poetry for adults while also writing equally exceptional fairy tales for children. Both are a testament to her extraordinary artistic spectrum. She adapted a wide variety of her works into radio plays, puppet shows, and live plays. Namely, Makarović is also an accomplished musician and the author of fabulous chansons. In short, she is a unique, authentic, and versatile artist who, time and again, enriches her children’s poetry with illustrations.
Poems of the Wandering Cat is a comprehensive collection assembled from her poetry collections, songs from her puppet shows, and radio plays. In the book, we can enjoy her poems featuring Sapramishka, Carrot Dwarf, Oka the Owl, Zofka the Witch, the imaginary beings called kosovirji, ghosts and other spooks, Little Red Riding Hood, Emilia the Little Hen, Mishmash the Baker, and many more. This beautifully produced book is divided into thirty-two lyrical cycles, each illustrated by a different prolific Slovenian illustrator. The thirty-third cat-themed cycle, so-called ‘mačnice’ or cat poems, cats being Svetlana’s favourite art subject, are delicately interspersed throughout the poetry collection.
The poems Makarović penned for children are witty, poignant, stirring, a tad whacky, sweet, and lyrical. No wonder that, much like her exquisite fairy tales, adults also enjoy reading her children’s poems. They were collected in this anthology, Poems of the Wandering Cat, for the first time, and thus, we gained one of the most important and valuable books in the field of children’s literature in Slovenia.
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HEJA BOOMBARASA!
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The sea gets curled by the threatening clouds, and the storm is about to rip the sky open... A ship slits the waves, bigger and bigger waves. A pirate ship. The sail stretches in the wind – a great white skull on the sail. An explosive and growing mutiny of a poem from the unsurpassed Frane Milčinski – Ježek, a poet, radio personality, and sad clown, found its shelter in the ears of listeners so often it turned into a folk song with a striking melody. The wild Heya BOOMbarasa, filled with bandits, enchanted the illustrator Gorazd Vahen – what happened after it is history. Certainly most courageous pirate song you have ever heard. Sparks are flying!
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VICTORY!
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The fox, the wolf, and the bear, whilst dealing with their own problem – the pollution of the river and the forest, encounter the problems of others – precarious and undervalued work. Joined in adversity, they focus on the gravest problem of them all. Will they manage to overcome it through co-pawperation?
The bear, the wolf, and the fox are forced out of their homes in winter by an ecocatastrophe caused by a chemical plant. They aim to rectify this problem single-pawedly, drawing on the strength of their animal characteristics and the wisdom that fellowship begets strength. Thus, they band together with a researcher driven by greedy owners from the company and then with the workers on strike over health issues. Throughout their cooperation, they question some of the fundamental premises of modern society: are they inevitable, and do they actually bring out the best in people and animals? Then, after installing a wastewater treatment facility into the plant's technological equipment, the comrades in arms remain friends, bound together by the hope that similar interventions would not be necessary soon.
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SOMETHING VERY VERY BEAUTIFUL
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Something Very Very Beautiful protects a special treasure. By spreading its message of playfulness and wisdom, the mischievous, humorous, good-hearted verses by a Slovenian poetess, Neža Maurer, nest warmly into our hearts. Exquisite illustrations by the Slovenian illustrator Barbara Ogrič Markež embrace the poems with their luminous pastel tones, and the book is thoughtfully adorned with a bundle of colourful ribbon bookmarks. Something very beautiful is waiting for you beyond the horizon, lit with silvery moonlight... The Slovenian Best Book Design Prize.
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BOOTALE SERIES
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The series recounting the adventures of the people of Bootale by Fran Milčinski is one clever, humorous pearl of narration. The witty, roguish, impish, and quite mischievous tales were written by the mighty artist who was able to capture the truth by the tiniest tail. How People of Bootale Acquired Brain, How People of Bootale Sowed Salt, and The Simpleton Policeman and Cefizelj are here to delight and educate unobtrusively. Laughter guaranteed!
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DON
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Let the truth be told: there has never been a dog quite as heroic as Don! On the outside, a black mutt, and on the inside, beaming with benevolence, fairness and honesty, Don is well equipped to meet life's challenges. Yet he still needs to prove his strength of character... Don, the last poem by the beloved Slovenian poet Tone Pavček, is a humane manifesto of peace delivered to children. Beautifully illustrated by Maja Kastelic, the children's poem has been nominated for the Slovenian Book of the Year Award in 2016 and won the main prize at the Slovenian Book Fair.
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TRIO OF FAIRYTALES BY FRANE MILČINSKI
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The tree-leaf clover of fairy tales by the world-class Slovenian author Frane Milčinski is brought to life through luminous, otherworldly illustrations. The Fairy, About the Tiny Little Soul that Couldn't Get into Heaven, and The Golden Pear Tree are all written in the noble tradition of folk tales and have been awarded the prestigious Golden Pear Award for high-quality juvenile literature in Slovenia.
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