Trg od knjige — Book Square

Every year from 21 to 28 July since 2003, Trg Herceg Stjepana — the marble square locals call Belavista, in the heart of Herceg Novi's Old Town — becomes Trg od knjige, the Book Square: an open-air international book fair under the summer night sky.

Regional publishers set up their stalls across the polished square, and each night brings author events — readings, launches and conversations with writers, held in the open with the sea air drifting up from the bay below. Concerts and drama performances round out the evenings, so literature shares the square with music and theatre.

Mornings belong to the youngest: children's literary programmes turn the square into a daytime storybook before the evening crowds return. The combination of browsing, listening and lingering makes it less a fair than a week-long literary salon in the open air.

Everything is free. The square sits inside the Old Town's stone lanes, a short climb from the waterfront — come at dusk, browse the stalls, and stay for whichever author or concert the night offers.