Grad od riječi: Dubrovnik's City of Words in an old factory

Each autumn, an old graphite factory in Gruž fills with books, poets and schoolchildren. Grad od riječi, the City of Words, is the literary and cultural festival of the Dubrovnik branch of Matica hrvatska. It started in October 2024, when the branch marked 70 years of work. Since then it has returned every year, always opening on a Thursday. The third edition ran on 24 and 25 September 2026 at TUP in Gruž.

The programme mixes panels, book launches, readings, workshops for children and a book fair. Authors, scholars, publishers, students and local people take part. The festival sits outside the walled Old Town, in the harbour district where many Dubrovnik residents run their everyday errands.

Who runs the festival

Matica hrvatska is a Croatian cultural society with branches across the country and abroad. The Dubrovnik branch has its office at Između polača 28 in the Old Town. It publishes the journal Dubrovnik, which turned 70 in 2025. Ivana Grkeš Tošović, the branch president, opens the festival and moderates some of its panels. Damir Zorić, the president of Matica hrvatska, spoke at the 2025 opening and at a book launch in 2026.

Partners change from year to year. In 2024 seven other Matica branches came from Križevci, Grude, Boka Kotorska, Vukovar, Blato, Metković and Mostar. Local partners included the Dubrovnik libraries and museums, the Marin Držić House, the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, the tourist board, the Society of Dubrovnik Writers and the University of Dubrovnik. In 2025 the City of Dubrovnik, the Centre for Children, Youth and Family, TUP, the development agency DURA and Love Bar supported the festival.

TUP in Gruž: a factory full of words

Since 2025 the festival has taken place at TUP, a former graphite factory in Gruž, Dubrovnik's port district. The City of Dubrovnik bought the complex in March 2022. Today it works as a community cultural centre. In 2022 its tenants included the Red History Museum, a recording studio, a ceramics workshop, a print shop and a yoga studio. Gruž is also home to the city's main market.

Events spread across the complex and its neighbours. The 2026 programme used the Kontrapogon hall for an exhibition, the passage beside the TUP library for talks, Love bar for an evening lecture and the Centre for Children, Youth and Family for children's storytelling. The first edition in 2024 took place in the Lazareti at Ploče, east of the Old Town. The tourist board dates the first quarantine there to 1377. Eight buildings and five courtyards survive.

When Grad od riječi takes place

Three editions so far, each in late September or early October:

• 2024, first edition: 10 to 12 October, Lazareti. The opening on Thursday 10 October started at 19:00.
• 2025, second edition: 2 to 4 October, TUP in Gruž. It opened on Thursday 2 October.
• 2026, third edition: 24 and 25 September, TUP in Gruž. The opening panel began on Thursday at 19:00.

The first two editions lasted three days, the third two. The opening falls on a Thursday evening and the main programme follows on Friday, with a Saturday in the longer years.

What is on the programme

• Opening night: a Thursday with speeches and certificates of thanks for long-time partners. In 2025 and 2026 a panel on the heritage value of the written word came first.
• Children's morning: storytelling, picture books from the Marin Držić House and hands-on workshops for primary school pupils. In 2025 workshop places were limited and booked online.
• Poetsko podne: at noon, pupils from three Dubrovnik secondary schools recite poetry, mentored by Mirjana Žeravica. It ran in both 2025 and 2026.
• Book launches: new titles from Matica branches and Dubrovnik publishers. In 2025 and 2026 new issues of the journal Dubrovnik were presented.
• Book fair: museums, the university, cultural societies and Matica branches present their publications. In 2025 a fair with vinyl, crafts and a book exchange ran from 10:00 to 18:00 on the Saturday. Visitors could bring two or three books and take others home.
• Evening talks: a lecture or panel at Love bar, and a closing panel on a theme of the year, from artificial intelligence in 2025 to reading and literacy in 2026.

Getting there and practical tips

• From the Old Town: Gruž lies west of the walls. Libertas city buses serve Gruž; routes and the current timetable are on the Libertas site. Our Gruž port guide covers the trip into town.
• Tickets: the programmes of all three editions listed no ticket prices. Children's workshops in 2025 needed registration.
• Language: the organiser publishes the programme in Croatian, and the talks and readings are in Croatian.
• Programme updates: the Dubrovnik branch of Matica hrvatska publishes the timetable on its website and social media before the opening. Local media such as HRT Radio Dubrovnik and DuList carry it too.
• Combine it: Lumiart, Dubrovnik's festival of light, also falls in autumn; in 2026 it ran from 16 to 18 October. See what to see in Dubrovnik and Dubrovnik in October.

Grad od riječi 2027

The organiser has not announced dates for 2027 yet (as of 20 October 2026). The pattern so far: a Thursday opening between late September and mid October, two or three days of programme, and TUP in Gruž as the main venue since 2025. We will add the date here once the Dubrovnik branch of Matica hrvatska publishes it. For other events next year, see Croatia festival dates 2027.

Grad od riječi 2026 in review

The third edition opened on Thursday 24 September with a panel on Dubrovnik naturalists, moderated by Irena Ipšić of the University of Dubrovnik. Speakers included Nenad Jasprica and Katarina Ivanišin. They discussed Lujo Adamović's botanical work of 1911, the legacy of Baldo Kosić, Faust Vrančić's book of machines and notes by Nikola Tesla. The programme announced an exhibition on Faust Vrančić's Machinae novae in the Kontrapogon hall. Monika Grdiša Asić handed out certificates of thanks, and the evening ended with live jazz.

Friday 25 September belonged to children in the morning. The Marin Držić House presented Marinov muzej, a free museum guide for primary school pupils. Vanja Balent told Snow White as kamishibai, picture theatre in a small wooden frame. In a workshop on the builder Paskoje Miličević, children made model houses. At noon eight pupils recited poetry. In the afternoon Andrea Oberan gave a talk at Love bar on how other people's expectations become an inner voice.

At 17:00 two double issues of the journal Dubrovnik were launched. They marked the journal's 70th year, 1100 years since the coronation of King Tomislav, 400 years since the death of Marin Getaldić and 500 years since the Battle of Mohács. Next came the English edition of Stipe Kutleša's monograph on Ruđer Bošković, whose Croatian edition the branch had presented at the first festival in 2024. The closing panel, Male žene, discussed reading and literacy with Staša Aras, Mariela Marković and Iris Gadžić. Vijenac, the Matica hrvatska paper, published a report on the festival on 8 October 2026.

The first two editions

In 2024 the festival opened on 10 October in the first nave of the Lazareti, with music, certificates of thanks and a reception. Deputy mayor Jelka Tepšić congratulated the branch on its 70 years and said she hoped Grad od riječi would take root in the city. The programme on 11 and 12 October brought workshops, literary talks, book launches and a fair of the visiting Matica branches.

The 2025 edition moved to TUP and was dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the journal Dubrovnik. Slavica Stojan and the illustrator Joško Marušić presented Marin Držić u dvanaest priča, a book that retells all twelve of Držić's plays. The Saturday, Grad od riječi feat. URBACT, was a pilot of the EU-funded RECUP project run by the development agency DURA. It brought the book exchange, children's workshops, the presentation of a lexicon of 452 parish priests from the Neretva deanery and a literary quiz at Love bar.

More in Dubrovnik and other book festivals

• Dubrovnik city guide
• Lumiart, Dubrovnik's autumn festival of light
• Interliber book fair in Zagreb
• Book fair in Istria, Pula