The Book 'Gatherers of Tales' Delighted the Audience in Sinj
VIEW ALLAs part of the “Advent in Sinj” event, the book “Gatherers of Tales” by author Melani Glavinić was presented in the full Multimedia Hall of the Museum of Sinj Alka. It is a collection of stories for children inspired by elements of the natural and cultural heritage of the Cetinje region, natural beauty and authentic people. Through twelve different characters and stories, the author combined recognizable elements of this region and fiction, creating a special fantasy world for children. In the collection, a group of children is tasked with stopping the oblivion that causes adults to no longer care about rich heritage, nature, culture and identity. In addition, in each story, an additional element is complicated family or friendship relationships.
The book was edited by Sara Kopeczky, and the author chose local creatives, illustrator and artist Ana Poljak Cvrlje and graphic designer Nikola Križanac, who designed it. The City Library of Sinj also made a great contribution as a publisher.
The evening was opened by Dino Vuković, who voiced the character of Kamičko from the first story “It’s no longer the same city” and the character of the Old Man in the short dialogue of Marta’s story “Bazen full of wishes”, then the young actor Marko Babić from the Sinj People’s Theater who read an excerpt from Luka’s story “Giant under Svilaj” and an excerpt from Filip’s story “Village under Peruć”. In the rest of the evening, Marta Blajić read an excerpt from Magdalena’s story “Zelovska toy factory” and Katarina Budimir read an excerpt from Anta’s story “The Seeker and Evil Forgetfulness” and participated in the dialogue of an excerpt from Marta’s story “Pool full of wishes” ”. The program was enriched by the Music School of Jakov Gotovac in Sinj, a flute quartet performed by professor Maja Tomašević with young musicians Marija Čaić, Tijana Čepelak and Marta Alebić, who delighted with their performance of Christmas Medley, and Klara Ivandić with her performance of Vivaldi’s Winter on the violin.
“I am happy and grateful that I first presented the book to ‘my’ people. Although I am constantly followed by the continuation that neither my husband nor I are natives of Sinj, but we just moved there, it is an honor and a special pleasure that my first book was inspired by this region, nature, heritage and people I met. I am especially happy because I brought the mission to an end, which is that domestic creatives from all fields worked on it, but were also part of the program at the presentation itself. I thank them all from the bottom of my heart, they will remain in my memory forever! Although the book is primarily for children, I believe that adults can also learn a lot from it. There is no shortage of inspiration about this climate, mentality and general beauty, you just have to look for it, and even in unusual places. As one of the quotes from the book says, “A world without stories is an empty world”. I hope that this is only the first book in a series.” – said author Melani Glavinić.
Photo by Studio Gašpar