Mediterranean Book Festival: five days of books at Split's Gripe

For five days at the end of September, the Great Hall of the Gripe Sports Centre in Split becomes the largest bookshop in the country, as HRT put it in 2024. The Mediterranean Book Festival, in Croatian Mediteranski festival knjige or MFK, brings publishers, bookshops, antiquarian dealers and authors to Osječka 11. Entry is free. The ninth edition took place in September 2026.

The Publishers and Booksellers Association of the Croatian Chamber of Economy (ZNK HGK) organises the festival. In 2026 the City of Split, the Ministry of Culture and Media and Split-Dalmatia County joined as co-organisers, Dalmatinski portal reported. The city paid 20,000 euros towards the hall rental. Kruno Lokotar and Patricija Horvat edit the main programme, and Kate Bošković edits the children's programme.

Mediterranean Book Festival 2027

As of 20 October 2026, the organiser has published no dates for the tenth edition. The official site, mfk.hr, still shows the 2026 programme. The recent editions all ran for five days, from a Wednesday to a Sunday, at the end of September:

• 2022: the 5th edition, from Wednesday 28 September to Sunday 2 October, according to tportal.
• 2024: the 7th edition, from Wednesday 25 to Sunday 29 September, according to HRT.
• 2025: the 8th edition, from Wednesday 24 to Sunday 28 September, according to mfk.hr.
• 2026: the 9th edition, from Wednesday 23 to Sunday 27 September, according to mfk.hr and the Split Tourist Board.

The dates and the daily programme appear on mfk.hr. The Split Tourist Board lists the festival in its events calendar at visitsplit.com. Other dates already fixed for next year are in our Croatia 2027 festival calendar.

Nine editions since May 2017

The first festival opened at Gripe on 3 May 2017 and ran for five days, tportal reported. More than 10,000 books were on display. The second edition followed from 9 to 13 May 2018. Its headline guest was the Norwegian crime writer Jo Nesbø, who presented his novel Macbeth at Gripe on 11 May.

Later the festival moved to the end of September. The fifth edition ran from 28 September to 2 October 2022. A salon in the sports centre became the "Mali Bookvarij" for children's workshops. The archive on mfk.hr lists every year from 2017 to 2025 except 2021.

Visitor numbers have grown with the programme. About 20,000 people came in 2024, Slavko Kozina, president of the publishers' association, said at the 2025 opening. About 26,000 came in 2025, Dalmacija Danas and Dalmatinski portal reported a year later.

Stands, launches and workshops fill the Great Hall

The hall works as a fair and a festival at once. Publishers sell at promotional prices for all five days. In 2025 and 2026 the organiser listed discounts of up to 20 percent on recent titles and up to 70 percent on older ones. Opening hours were the same in both years:

• Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday: 10:00 to 20:00.
• Friday and Saturday: 10:00 to 21:00.
• Entry: free on every festival day.

The stage programme runs through the day. It mixes book launches, author talks and panels. In 2025 the featured events included Gibonni presenting Bandire potonulog carstva, an evening in memory of the writer Renato Baretić and a talk with Sanja Pilić. Schools visit too. Split-Dalmatia County pays transport for pupils from across the county. In 2025 that covered more than 1,000 students, said Tomislav Đonlić, the county's head of education.

The children's programme offers literary, art, film and theatre workshops. In 2026 there were more than 60 workshops for children, young people and adults, the City of Split said. Lego and Rubik's cube activities joined them, Dalmatinski portal reported.

Split's own presses share a group stand called Splitski kantun. It started with four members in 2023 and counted 28 independent publishers and self-publishing authors in 2026. Antiquarian dealers bring rare editions to the hall as well.

Getting to Gripe

Gripe lies east of Diocletian's Palace, outside the Old Town. The festival uses the Great Hall of the sports centre at Osječka 11. City buses serve the area; lines and timetables are on the Promet Split website. The sports centre has a car park, which also serves sports events.

• Check the daily programme on mfk.hr before you go. Each festival day has its own page with the times of launches, talks and workshops.
• Friday and Saturday stay open until 21:00, so an evening visit fits after a day by the sea.
• Bring a bag for the books you buy, and plan the Old Town as a separate half day. Our guide to what to see in Split covers the palace and the Riva.

Mediterranean Book Festival 2026 in review

The ninth festival opened on Wednesday 23 September 2026 in the Great Hall at Gripe. Culture Minister Nina Obuljen Koržinek opened it, alongside Split mayor Tomislav Šuta and Slavko Kozina of the publishers' association. "MFK has become an institution with an identity," Kozina said, according to the City of Split.

The organiser's programme ran for five days, until Sunday 27 September. The City of Split's opening report gave 29 September as the end date. More than 50 exhibitors represented about 90 publishers, and the hall hosted more than 60 workshops.

Jo Nesbø returned to Split eight years after his first visit. His presentation of Završni kadar, the 14th Harry Hole novel, was announced for Saturday 26 September at 19:00, with a signing from 20:00 to 21:00. HRT recorded a panel with Nesbø, the director Danis Tanović and Katarina Prpić of Antitalent produkcija at Hrvatski dom in Split. HTV3 aired it on 9 October.

The guest list also named Marinko Koščec, Monika Herceg, Boris Dežulović and the Italian writer Daniele Mencarelli. A speed date for readers ran for the first time: 18 participants talked about books in three-minute rounds, hosted by Antonija Ćosić, Dalmacija Danas reported.

The rarest book in the hall was a 1594 copy of De origine successibusque Slavorum by Vinko Pribojević of Hvar. Zagreb's Antikvarijat Biblos offered it for 6,400 euros. On the last day, Dražen Krušelj presented Veliki žuti, his biography of the footballer Robert Prosinečki, and Jasen Boko a new edition of Tragovima Odiseja.