SFera

Last updated

SFera is a science fiction society from Zagreb, Croatia. [1] [2] It was founded in 1976, [3] thus marking the beginnings of organized science fiction fandom in the region. [4]

Contents

SFera is the official organizer of SFeraKon, an annual Croatian science fiction convention. Since 1995, it also publishes annual collections of science fiction stories of Croatian authors. [5] [6] The founder of the collection series and its first editor was Darko Macan. [7] SFera's own fanzine, Parsek, has been published since 1977. [4]

Although Croatia today has a number of science fiction societies and conventions, as well the annual short fiction anthologies, SFera remains the major national society. Since mid-1970s, its members and founders - among them Krsto A. Mažuranić, Damir Mikuličić, Neven Antičević, Ivica Posavec - were included in organisation of almost every major initiative in Croatian science fiction, including the Sirius monthly magazine (awarded two times as the best European science fiction magazine, in 1980 and 1984 [8] ), which was founded and partially edited by SFera's members, then the Futura magazine, which was edited by Krsto A. Mažuranić, and also various attempts at local science fiction publishing, as well many fandom activities. Today, when it's not a publisher or an organiser, SFera remains the patron or initiator of various science fiction activities in Croatia, especially small press publishing as science fiction literary journal Ubiq, [9] the series of books by winners of the SFERA Award (Biblioteka SFERA), or the anthology of the Croatian science fiction stories 1976-2006 Ad Astra. The major Croatian science fiction portal (and its online fanzine) NOSF is also run by the SFera members.

SFERA Award

Introduced in 1981, the SFERA Award is the only national award for the SF genre in Croatia. [10] Until 1991, the award was given for the area of the whole former Yugoslavia and its recipients were, among others, World Fantasy Award winner Zoran Živković, for his two-tome Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Predrag Raos, Darko Macan, Igor Kordej, Darko Suvin, and Aleksandar Žiljak.

SFeraKon

The annual Croatian science fiction convention, SFeraKon, is held in Zagreb since 1979. It's the longest-running and the biggest annual science fiction convention in South-Eastern Europe, usually attended by more than 2000 people. [11] SFeraKon was initiated by the First Exhibition of Science Fiction (Prvi sajam naučne fantastike), held in Zagreb and Belgrade in 1972, organised by the Zagreb student gallery SC, the American Library of Zagreb, and the Belgrade Student Cultural Centre (SKC). [12]

In 1986, SFeraKon was actually held as the Eurocon convention [13] under the name Ballcon. The 1992 Eurocon was also meant to be held in Zagreb, but the venue was changed to Freudenstadt, Germany, because of the war. [14] The 1998 SFeraKon was also the 1998 Euroconference. [15] And finally, 2012 SFeraKon was held as Eurocon convention under the name Kontakt. [16]

The guests of the convention, among others, were Frederik Pohl, Jack Williamson, Harry Harrison, Joe Haldeman, Brian W. Aldiss, James Gunn, Bob Shaw, Richard D. Nolan, Sam Lundwall, Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri, Gianfranco Viviani, Gerald Webb, Martin Easterbrook, Robert Silverberg, Karen Haber, Guy Gavriel Kay, Walter Jon Williams, Lois McMaster Bujold, [17] George R. R. Martin, Ken MacLeod, Michael Iwoleit, Michael Swanwick, Bruce Sterling, Richard K. Morgan, [18] Ian McDonald and R. Scott Bakker. [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Culture of Croatia</span>

The culture of Croatia has historically been influenced by Central European, Mediterranean, and Balkan cultures. Croatia's unique culture and identity can be traced back to the historical llyricum. The Croatian language is believed to have been formed in the 6th or 7th century, with the written language present in Glagolitic texts from the 11th century.

Croatian science fiction consists mostly of literature, novels and stories published in various magazines and story collections, and some movies and graphic novels. The first Croatian occurrence of science fiction happened in 1919 and since then, the region has seen the birth and death of several countries/states. This dynamic left a mark on the genre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aleksandar Žiljak</span>

Aleksandar Žiljak is a science fiction and fantasy writer and illustrator from Zagreb, Croatia. In 2006, he co-edited Ad Astra, an anthology of Croatian SF stories, which covers period from 1976 to 2006, and he co-edits Croatian literary SF journal Ubiq.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Darko Macan</span> Croatian writer and illustrator (born 1966)

Darko Macan is a Croatian writer and illustrator who has created and collaborated on comics, essays and science fiction and fantasy. He is also an editor.

Eurocon is an annual science fiction convention held in Europe. The organising committee of each Eurocon is selected by a vote of the participants of the previous event. The procedure is coordinated by the European Science Fiction Society. The first Eurocon was held in Trieste, Italy, in 1972. Unlike Worldcons, Eurocon is usually a title attached to an existing convention. The European SF Awards are given in most of the conventions giving recognition to the best works and achievements in science fiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dušan Vukotić</span> Yugoslav film maker

Dušan Vukotić was a Yugoslav and Serbian-Montenegrin cartoonist, author and director of animated films. He is the best known member of the Zagreb school of animated films.

Darko Ronald Suvin is a Canadian academic, writer and critic who became a professor at McGill University in Montreal. He was born in Zagreb, which at the time was in Kingdom of Yugoslavia, now the capital of Croatia. After teaching at the Department for Comparative Literature at the Zagreb University, and writing his first books and poems in his native language, he left Yugoslavia in 1967, and started teaching at McGill University in 1968.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Igor Kordej</span>

Igor Kordej is a Croatian comic book artist, illustrator, graphic designer and scenographer of international reputation.

Roberto Quaglia is an Italian science fiction writer. Many of his works have been translated and published in Romania, and some have also been translated into English, Russian, Spanish, French, Czech, Hungarian and Dutch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dalibor Perković</span> Croatian science fiction writer (born 1974)

Dalibor Perković is a Croatian science fiction writer. He worked as a journalist and is now a physics teacher.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nikola Šubić Zrinski Square</span> Square and park in Zagreb, Croatia

Nikola Šubić Zrinski Square is a square and park in Donji Grad, the central part of Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. It is located near the central Ban Jelačić Square, halfway towards the Main Railway Station. It is a part of the Green horseshoe or Lenuci's horseshoe, which consists of seven squares in Donji grad. It is spread over an area of 12,540 square meters (135,000 sq ft).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SFeraKon</span> Science fiction convention

SFeraKon is a science fiction convention that takes place in Zagreb, Croatia every year at the end of April. Organized by SFera, it is the largest and the longest running science fiction convention in southeastern Europe.

The Science Fiction & Fantasy Translation Awards was a literary award for science fiction and fantasy works translated into English. The first award was presented in 2011 for works published in 2010. Two awards were given, one for long form and one for short form. Both the author and translator receive a trophy and a cash prize of US$350. The award was supported a number of ways including direct donations from the public, the Speculative Literature Foundation, prominent academics in particular staff at the University of California, Riverside (UCR), home of the Eaton Collection, one of the world’s largest collections of science fiction and fantasy literature. The last award was for 2013, and the award officially closed in October 2014.

RK Zamet is a handball club from Rijeka, Croatia, formed in 1957. The club currently competes in the Croatian Premier Handball League and the Croatian Handball Cup. Although the club has not won any mayor trophies, it has produced four Olympic gold medalists: Valter Matošević, Alvaro Načinović, Valner Franković and Mirza Džomba. Four additional Olympic gold medalists played for the club, including Irfan Smajlagić, Vladimir Šujster, Zlatko Saračević and Božidar Jović, and Jakov Gojun, who has a bronze medal.

Q strip was a Croatian comic book magazine edited by Darko Macan. It specializes in good quality Croatian comics which are often accompanied by notable comics from all over the world. The first issue was released on 18 July 2003. The last issue was released in 2013.

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Zagreb, Croatia.

Futura, Croatian journal of speculative fiction, was a science fiction magazine. It was in circulation between 1992 and 2010.

The SFera Award is awarded annually by the science fiction society SFera in Zagreb since 1981. Until 1991, it was given to participants from whole of Yugoslavia, but since 1994 only for works originally published in Croatian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jasna Horvat</span> Croatian writer, cultural theorist and professor

Jasna Horvat is a Croatian writer, cultural theorist, and professor at the University of Osijek. She writes novels, essays, and books for children and youth, as well as academic works. Most of her works have been assessed as Oulipian.

Sirius was a Croatian science fiction magazine from Zagreb, SR Croatia, Yugoslavia. It was named after the brightest star in the sky, seen from Earth. It was published by the Zagreb newspaper and publishing house Vjesnik from 1976 to 1989. The magazine stopped circulating in 1990.

References

  1. ↑ "European Science Fiction". www.esfs.info. Archived from the original on 2002-12-08.
  2. 1 2 "In a few words: SFera & SFeraKon - SFera". sfera.hr. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  3. ↑ Krsto, Mažuranić (July 27, 2024). "CroZBiFaniStorija". SFera. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
  4. 1 2 "www.phantazm.net is Expired or Suspended". www.phantazm.net. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  5. ↑ "Jubilarno izdanje SFeraKona". www.booksa.hr. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  6. ↑ "SFeraKonske zbirke". July 27, 2024. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
  7. ↑ "www.phantazm.net is Expired or Suspended". www.phantazm.net. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  8. ↑ "www.phantazm.net is Expired or Suspended". www.phantazm.net. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  9. ↑ "SF Signal: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Aleksandar Žiljak". Archived from the original on 2011-10-13. Retrieved 2009-12-14.
  10. ↑ "The SFERA Award - SFera". sfera.hr. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  11. ↑ "English".
  12. ↑ "Art-Anima".
  13. ↑ "European Science Fiction Conventions and Eurocon reports". Archived from the original on 2008-11-20. Retrieved 2009-06-21.
  14. ↑ "FREUCON - THE 1992 EUROCON". www.esfs.info. Archived from the original on 2005-04-08.
  15. ↑ "Fans Across the World Newsletter 73". efanzines.com. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  16. ↑ "Kontakt".
  17. ↑ Bernardi, Michael. "The Bujold Nexus - Croatia 2002". www.dendarii.com. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  18. ↑ "Holy Shit!". www.richardkmorgan.com. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.