Laguna

• Name — Laguna • Status — active • Founded — April 1998. • Founder — Dejan Papić • Country — Serbia • Headquarters — Beograd • Keypeople — * Mina Kebin • Ivan Dabetić • Aleksandar Petrović • Srđan Krstić • Dejan Mihajlović • Ivana Misirlić • Zoran Penevski (children's book editor) • Irena Markić (children's book editor) • Topics — Fiction, essays, history, non-fiction, popular science... • Numemployees — 90 • Website — laguna.rs/

In early 1998, Dejan Papić, who was a computer programmer at the time, translated Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic, so that his wife could read it in their native language. However, when he tried to acquire the rights for the title, he learned he couldn't do so as an individual and that he needed the help of a publishing house instead. Soon after that, in April 1998, Mr. Papić founded his own publishing house, Laguna. During its initial years, the publishing company faced a bombing, a social crisis and lack of funds, so it progressed at a slow pace. Only one title was published in the first year, two the following and four the year after that. In the year 2000, Laguna began publishing titles by other authors popular worldwide. The list of publications grew year after year, only to reach 350 published titles a year, thus becoming one of the most productive publishing companies in Europe.

• Illustration — The Student Cultural center building in Belgrade, site of the biggest store in the Delfi bookstore chain The first bookstore was opened in Belgrade in 2009 in Makedonska street and another was opened the same year in number 48, Kralja Milana street, in the building of the Student Cultural Centre (SKC). Shortly after this, a sister company Delfi and a bookstore chain were founded, using Laguna's ten-year experience in publishing and modeled after the best and most popular international bookstore chains. Today, Delfi bookstores has a total of 43 stores. • Illustration — Readers' club in Niš Laguna does not cover only the Serbian market, but has an active presence in Montenegro, where there are four readers' clubs, as well as in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where Laguna has eight readers' clubs. In its gradual expansion over the years, Laguna began opening readers' clubs in cities all over Serbia and today there are over 600 000 members in 60 clubs in 29 cities in Serbia (Belgrade, Lazarevac, Smederevo, Novi Sad, Novi Pazar Niš, Kragujevac, Zrenjanin, Gornji Milanovac, Jagodina, Kraljevo, Leskovac, Pančevo, Požarevac, Lebane, Sremska Mitrovica, Subotica, Valjevo, Vršac, Zaječar, Čačak, Šabac, Kruševac and Užice) and the region (Bijeljina, Banja Luka, Sarajevo, Tuzla, Nikšić, Podgorica). Twice a year, in June and December, Laguna hosts Book Night, a popular event during which there is a big discount not only for Laguna's titles but for books from other publishers as well. The first Book Night was organized in 2009 and this event promoting the love of books and reading has been organized every year across Serbia. By popularity and the number of visitors, it is second only to the Belgrade Book Fair. Apart from this one, Laguna organizes many other events to engage their existing members and attract new ones. Some of them include Let's exchange gifts, when every person to donate blood gets a book as a present, Autograph for Safety, during which all collected funds are used to equip the sensory room in Dušan Dugalić, a school for children with special needs; Bring Libraries to Life Again has enabled the collection of over 15,000 books to help libraries destroyed in the floods of 2014. Laguna has also hosted numerous book donations for schools and other institutions and their libraries, as well as for women in safe houses; together with Coca-Cola Laguna has organized book donations for orphaned children and joined forces with the bank Eurobank and the Ana and Vlade Divac Foundation to open libraries in 27 daycare centers across Serbia. With the desire to bring the literary world to their readers, Laguna regularly organizes literary evenings in all major Serbian cities, in collaboration with many Serbian authors and has been host to numerous foreign authors as well. The list of popular writers that have visited Serbia at Laguna's invitation are Mario Vargas Llosa, Tony Parsons, Tracy Chevalier, Tariq Ali, Amitav Ghosh, William Paul Young, Lucinda Riley, Javier Sierra, Mo Hayder, Pierre Lemaitre, Heleen Van Royen, Giulio Leoni, Luca di Fulvio, Luc Besson, Juan Gómez Jurado, Guy Gavriel Kay, Nataša Dragnić and many others. Norwegian thriller writer Jo Nesbo has also been Laguna's guest, and American fantasy author Peter V. Brett was Laguna's special guest at the 2018 Belgrade book fair.

Mala Laguna is a branch of Laguna Publishing dedicated to children's books and young adult titles. The first titles were published in 2002 and since then, around 70 titles are published annually under the Mala Laguna brand. The list of publications includes the works of renowned children's and young adult authors such as Miroslav Antić, Gradimir Stojković, Ljubivoje Ršumović, Vlada Stojiljković, Uroš Petrović, Igor Kolarov, Branko Stevanović, Vladislava Vojnović, Gordana Maletić, Robert Takarič, Vesna Ćorović Butrić, Vesna Vidojević Gajović, Zoran Penevski, and others. Mala Laguna titles include many illustrated books as well, which feature the works of some of the most esteemed Serbian illustrators such as Dušan Petričić, Dušan Pavlić, Aleksandar Zolotić, Nemanja Ristić, Tihomir Čelanović, Marica Kicušić, Milica Radenković, Kosta Milovanović, and many others. Mala Laguna publications have received numerous awards and recognitions: • The literary prize of the Politikin Zabavnik magazine: • Stefan Tićmi for Ja sam Akiko (I am Akiko) in 2018 • The Zmaj's Children’s Games „Rade Obrenović“ prize: • Zoran Penevski for his novel Sara i januar za dve devojčice (Sara and a January for two girls) in 2018 • Uroš Petrović for his novel Deca Bestragije (Children of Bestragija) in 2013 • Uroš Petrović for his novel Peti leptir (The Fifth Butterfly) in 2007 • The Neven literary prize: • Milica Radenković for her illustrations for the children's novel Izmislica by Vesna Ćorović Butrić • Uroš Petrović for his novel Karavan čudesa (Caravan of Wonders) in 2016 • Svetislav Paunović, Igor Kolarov and Branko Stevanović in the category best popular science title for children for Urnebesna fizika (Hilarious physics) in 2015.

Laguna Publishing started its online magazine titled Laguna Bookmarker – Your Reading Universe in 2017. The magazine publishes interesting facts on published titles, synopsis, reviews, examples of the most beautiful bookstores and literary cafés in the world, as well as interviews with Serbian and foreign authors, articles on reading habits, parenting, and child-rearing. The Bookmarker includes both educational videos and texts and the content published exceeds a thousand publications per year.

• Illustration — Delfi bookstore Borislav Pekić — outside • Illustration — Delfi bookstore Borislav Pekić — inside • Illustration — Delfi bookstore Borislav Pekić — inside • Illustration — Delfi bookstore Borislav Pekić — inside • Illustration — Delfi bookstore Borislav Pekić — inside • Illustration — Delfi bookstore Borislav Pekić — inside • Illustration — Delfi bookstore Borislav Pekić — inside • Illustration — Delfi bookstore Borislav Pekić — inside • Illustration — Laguna Readers' club BIG fashion — outside • Illustration — Laguna Readers' club BIG fashion — inside • Illustration — Laguna Readers' club BIG fashion — inside • Illustration — Laguna Readers' club BIG fashion — inside • Illustration — Laguna Readers' club BIG fashion — inside • Illustration — Laguna Readers' club BIG fashion — inside • Illustration — Laguna Readers' club BIG fashion — inside • Illustration — Laguna Readers' club BIG fashion — inside