Fanfest, Fantasy Literature Festival

Contact

Slovenski festival fantazijske književnosti Fanfest

Gledališki trg 4, SI-3000 Celje

http://fanfest.si/

fanfest.festival@gmail.com

Organised byCelje Literary Society

Frequencyannual

Festival dates16.10.2025 - 19.10.2025

Fanfest, Fantasy Literature Festival is an international festival, which has been taking place in Celje, in the third largest Slovene city, located in the region of Štajerska (Slovenian Styria). The festival has been running since 2017 and is organized by Celje Literary Society. It is the first and still the only literary festival of its kind in Slovenia, set as a multi-day, international literary event for authors and lovers of fantasy literature. Most of the events are aimed at the general public, but some activities, such as workshops, are for authors only.

History

The festival is intended for lovers and authors of fantasy literature. For a long time, the Slovene literary scene did not have a quality platform, for example, a magazine for fantasy literature or so-called speculative fiction, so in 2016 Celje Literary Society started publishing a magazine for speculative fiction Supernova twice a year, which offers space for publishing Slovene and international quality prose and poetry from the field of fantasy literature, which includes fantasy literature, science fiction and related genres. In 2017, Celje Literary Society also organized the first Fanfest.

The first edition of the Fanfest, Festival of Fantasy Literature in 2017.

Programme

The festival is multi-day, so far four editions have taken place, most often in September, the events take place in Antika Antiquariat and Bookshop, Celje and Celjska kulturnica. The festival includes round tables and discussions on contemporary fantasy literature or its future, workshops, for example on archetypal characters and their implementation in literature or how to end a fantasy story, presentations of books and specialized magazines, and other events such as film screenings and art exhibitions.

The festival hosted many Slovene authors, editors, experts in the field of fantasy literature, such as Maja Mlakar, translator and editor of Polica Dubova Cultural and Artistic Association Tatjana Jamnik, poet Alenka Jovanovski, Martin Vavpotič, Samo Petančič, Bojan Ekselenski, Andrej Ivanuša. Mirko Grdinić from Croatia, Dragić Rabrenović from Montenegro and Tihomir Jovanović – Tika and Dr Zoran Živković from Serbia gave the festival an international dimension. Dr Živković, for example, is a European and world-famous author who has written more than 20 books in the field of science fiction. Renowned Czech writer Ivana Myšková was also a guest at the festival. The festival is always accompanied by music concerts, for example by Matej Krajnc.

The festival also organizes a competition for the best fantasy stories on various topics: in 2018, for example, the topic was Fantastic Ancient Celeia, in 2019 Ulrich II. of Celje survived.

The opening of the Fanfest, Festival of Fantasy Literature in Celje, 2020.

See also

• Polica Dubova Cultural and Artistic Association

External links

• Fanfest, Fantasy Literature Festival website
• Fanfest as a representative on the European Science Fiction Society web page

Gallery

The banner of the Fanfest, Fantasy Literature Festival 2025

The first edition of the Fanfest, Festival of Fantasy Literature in 2017.

The opening of the Fanfest, Festival of Fantasy Literature in Celje, 2020.

The poster of the Fanfest, Festival of Fantasy Literature 2022.

The lecture of the guest Zoran Živković at the Fanfest, Fantary Literature Festival in Celje, 2023

The banner of the 7th Fanfest, Festival of Fantasy Literature in 2023