One of my favorite literary festivals is the Festival of the European Short Story in Croatia.

It’s definitely not the biggest festival I’ve been to. It is rather informal, which is a polite way to say chaos reigns. The audiences can be small, with say 30 people. Half of the people there are volunteers working for the festival and its authors. But that doesn’t matter. And this is mainly because of its charming and witty founder, Roman Simic, who is an editor and writer of short stories himself.

I’ve been to this festival twice, the first time in 2006 and then again in 2011. More than ever before, the festival resembles a high school outing. The events are taken seriously, but they are nevertheless an afterthought. Food is provided to the authors, but booze is more important. Roman Simic himself does most of the interviews, which adds to the informal character of the events. Sometimes the interviews are more like comic acts for two people.

A student volunteer is assigned to each author. At least for some of the authors, this helps turn the festival into one big night.

The festival, which is celebrating its 10th year, always takes place in Zagreb and another Croatian city. In 2006 we went to Rijeka, and this year we went to Split.

While there were readings in Split, I would say that the main reason we went was to go on a boat trip to the island of Brač. Most of the authors went swimming. Lunch was served on the boat, with wine and Croatian liquor. As if writing is just an extension of drinking and swimming.

Many of the readings took place in two nightclubs, Club Ghetto in Zagreb and Club Quasimodo in Split. The names of these clubs could be taken as an ominous sign for literature. But the Polish poet Miłosz wrote in a poem that literature is a tournament of hunchbacks.

It would be wrong to say that literature just became an excuse for drinking too much. This festival turns you into a perpetual pupil.

I had never heard of the Norwegian author Frode Grytten, but I heard him read a beautiful story and now I will start reading his work.

The festival ended with an interview with the Chinese-American author Yiyun Li. She said that he didn’t want to be considered a Chinese-American writer. She wanted to be an international writer. She added that for her, writing starts with reading. She said she also decided to travel with her children, because otherwise she would have stayed in her room and read books all day.

After she was finished speaking, I thought: I’m not going to a bar tonight, I’m going to read. I have to read much more.