The print and electronic editions of the Almanac were presented to the gathered dignitaries and friends of the CHF on its birthday by CHF director Marin Knezović on behalf of the publisher, joined by article contributors Božo Skoko, Marijeta Rajković Iveta and Paula Gadže and the publication’s editor Vesna Kukavica.
The presentation of the latest in a long succession of Croatian Emigrant Almanacs was staged this year on the 12th of February at CHF headquarters. The CHF was founded in Zagreb 65 years ago to the day, in 1951.
The print and electronic editions of the Almanac were presented to the gathered dignitaries and friends of the CHF on its birthday by CHF director Marin Knezović on behalf of the publisher, joined by article contributors Božo Skoko, Marijeta Rajković Iveta and Paula Gadže and the publication’s editor Vesna Kukavica.
The event was moderated by the head of the CHF department for education, science and sports Lada Kanajet Šimić. The event also featured a performance by opera soloist Barbara Othman accompanied by Eva Kirchmayer-Bilić.
Skoko, a communications expert from the University of Zagreb’s Faculty of Political Science, spoke of the significance of this CHF serial publication to the process of the cultural integration of emigrant and homeland Croatia in the modern era. Marijeta Rajković Iveta, a senior lecturer at the department for ethnology and cultural anthropology of the University of Zagreb’s Faculty of the Humanities and Social Sciences, spoke of the Almanac’s content. Argentinean Croatian and ethnology graduate from Buenos Aires Paula Gadže spoke of the culinary heritage of our emigrants in South America. Vesna Kukavica, head of the CHF publishing department, publicist and journalist, spoke of her seventeenth Almanac and the publication’s future.
This year’s edition, with summaries in English and Spanish, again features eight thematic sections: Signs Of The Times, Croatian Philological Horizons, Heritage, Bridges, A History, Spirituality, Science and New Books – consisting of thirty-two articles. The 356-page volume offers 65 illustrations. The CHF yearbook continues its tradition of staying abreast of the latest views and the leading figures of the art and science communities, and details the histories of people who sought a better life. The articles in the latest edition are contributed by Walter F. Lalich, M. Perić Kaselj, M. Bošnjak, M. Đurinović, G. Borić, D. Rudolf, I. Čizmić, B. Skoko, Ž. Holjevac, I. Sardelić, M. Sopta, T. Šarić, S. Damjanović, P. Gadže, M. Rajković Iveta, H. Sablić Tomić, Ž. Lovrenčić, A. Šćukanec, V. Kukavica, I. Hrstić, D. Šaravanja, T. Nuić and others.
The past and current editors are: Boris Maruna (1990–1992), Vinko Nikolić (1992–1993), Boris Maruna (1994), Aleksandar Ravlić (1994–1999) and Vesna Kukavica (since 2000).
The promotion demonstrated once again that the Croatian Heritage Foundation and its annual publication have both a valued and beneficial history and a bright future. The authors of the articles contributed to the Almanac, the CHF’s valued and great friends, have proven this again and again with their expertise and inventiveness. Boldly facing the challenges, the Croatian Heritage Foundation has stepped again into a new decade.
Text by: Diana Šimurina-Šoufek; Photos by: Snježana Radoš
