“SKOPJE FELLOWSHIP" PROGRAM

Foreing publishers, festival directors and programme managers, literary agents and scouts – visiting PRO-ZA Balkan “Skopje Fellowship” programme is dedicated to foreign publishers,
festival directors and programme managers, literary agents and scouts. The Festival is among the first in the region to establish a programme dedicated to such a profile of guests, and continues with the same intensity. The objective of the Fellowship Programme is to familiarize the stakeholders of the prominent festivals and the world of publishers with our literary scene, which, we hope, would result in new translations, visits of writers abroad, promotion of the literature, networking of writers and cultural workers in the area of publishing and literature with their European and worldwide colleagues...

Skopje Fellowship Program is co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union

KATHARINA LOIX VAN HOOFF

Katharina Loix van Hooff, born in Berlin, studied History and Comparative Literature in Brussels, Washington D.C., Berlin and Paris. After significant experience as a journalist in the USA, Ukraine and Russia, she worked as an editor and author in Germany, before joining the French publishing industry.

As head of the foreign literature department at Éditions Gallimard, she accompanied the publications of leading novelists such as Amos Oz, Orhan Pamuk, Ludmilla Ulitskaya, Peter Handke and Bernhard Schlink.

In 2021 she founded Les Argonautes, an independent publishing house with an innovative digital project to promote European literature, La Carte des Argonautes, and publisher of internationally acclaimed authors including Marente de Moor, Asta Olivia Nordenhof, Pajtim Statovci and Lina Wolff, Pascal Mercier and Tatiana Tolstoy.

TAMER SAID

Tamer Said is one of UAE's foremost publishing executives. He was appointed in July 2023 as the Director of Sharjah International Literary Agency (SILA), which was launched in 2020 by the Sharjah Book Authority (SBA) to boost the communication between publishers, authors, translators, illustrators, and other stakeholders, and help transform numerous works for global consumption.

Previously, Tamer spent over 12 years as the Managing Director of Kalimat Group, a leading Arabic publisher in Sharjah, UAE. During his tenure, he expanded the company's publications into new markets worldwide and fostered strong partnerships with international publishing houses.

During his career, Tamer joined esteemed organizations in the publishing and book industry, such as the Emirates Publishers Association, the UAE Board on Books for Young People (UAEBBY), and the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair. He also participated as a jury member in various book awards in the UAE.

KATJA KAC

Katja Kac (1992) obtained a degree in Cultural Studies from the Faculty of Social Sciences in Ljubljana. From 2012 to 2014, she worked at the music Festival Godibodi as coordinator for guests and artists. She also worked on the European promotion of the biggest Slovenian open-air festival, Festival Lent since 2011. In 2014 she held the post of the Vice President, working on grants, public relations and promotion. In 2013 she was cooperating with the Humanity Centre for the History and Culture of East-Central Europe. Since June 2015, she has been working for KUD Sodobnost International as project manager and foreign rights manager. Since May 2016, she has been involved in projects Our Little Library (DG EAC named the OLL project a “success story”), Books Connecting the Worlds, and Ready for Reading. She was project manager for EU cooperation project Our Little Library: Let’s meet children’s authors and illustrators.

JOANNA JEZIORNA-KRAMARZ

Joanna Jeziorna-Kramarz – born in Poland where she lives in the countryside. She works as Project Manager and Rights Manager in Wydawnictwo Poznanskie and is into women’s fiction and valuable children’s books.

LALY BERNARD

Laly Bernard is a junior literary agent for #BAM Agency based in Paris, France. She specializes in Central and Eastern Europe and is responsible for connecting France to foreign markets. After graduating from the University of Oxford and the Sorbonne with Masters in both Comparative Literature and Publishing, her career has spanned various esteemed publishing houses, from the independent Philippe Rey to Le Seuil and Albin Michel groups.

NESTORAS POULAKOS

Nestoras Poulakos is a publisher & co-founder of Vakxikon Publications in Greece. Vakxikon Publications is one of the largest literature publishing house in the country. Its annual publishing program includes more than 100 Greek and translated books of prose, poetry, essays and children’s books. Nestoras Poulakos has been the general secretary of the Association of Book Publishers (2016-2019). He’s a member of the Disciplinary Board of PEN Greece (2021-). He’s a member of International Alliance of Independent Publishers (2022-). He participates in several publishing fellowship and residency programs, such as: Young Publishing Professionals in Brussels (by FEP), Taiwan Publishing Fellowship, Book Arsenal Fellowship (Kyiv), Ljubljana Residency Program (by Sodobnost), etc.

RICARDO LÓPEZ

Ricardo López has an academic background in Political Science and Law and postgraduate studies in Philosophy. With a professional experience of 20+ years in project management (Technical assistance, R&D and publishing), he is well acquainted to

European-funded programs, regulations and modus operandi. Together with his partner Eva Guillen, he founded Armaenia Editorial in 2015 (started operations in 2016) and has been direct responsible for a catalogue of 50+ titles, alongside the general management of the company.

VALERIA PAOLINI

Valeria Paolini (Pescara, 1995) is a literary scout and translator from Italy. With a Master’s Degree in Foreign Languages and Cultures, she specializes in submerged narratives from around the world. She speaks fluent English and Italian. As a rights ambassador at SIBF, she’s looking for a broad range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry, with particular emphasis on #ownvoices stories, women’s writing, and LGBTQ+ narrations. Self-published authors welcome!