Odakle zovem (Where I'm Calling From)

"Odakle zovem" ("Where I'm Calling From") is an international literary festival created by Karver, Podgorica's iconic bookstore founded by the actress Varja Đukić. The 18th edition ran from 2 to 5 July 2026, confirming the festival as one of the longest-standing literary gatherings in the country.

Podgorica in early July is a city of hot days and long, sociable nights. Montenegro's capital sits on a plain where rivers meet, and the Ribnica — small, quiet and threading through the very heart of town — is where the city comes to cool down after dark. Holding a literary festival on its embankment turns that geography into stagecraft: the water, the stone and the summer night do much of the work before a word is read.

Its stage is unlike any other: the plaza on Obala Ribnice, along the small Ribnica river in the heart of the city, where summer nights host poetry readings, film screenings and open discussions. The 2026 edition was opened by the Czech Ambassador, accompanied by a string quartet, and paid homage to the dramatist Ljubomir Đurković and to Božo Koprivica, the beloved essayist who died in 2026.

The festival carries the spirit of the bookstore that created it — intimate, curious and international at once. Writers read to audiences seated a few steps from the water, and the line between guests and public dissolves in conversation afterwards. It suits unhurried evenings: you arrive, find a place near the river, and let the programme carry you from poetry into film and back into talk.

All programmes are free. For anyone in Podgorica in early July, an evening on the Ribnica embankment with poetry in the air is among the city's most atmospheric experiences. The festival is annual and held at the Karver bookstore plaza on Obala Ribnice; the 2026 edition ran from 2 to 5 July.