U2 Dnevnik – My Book in Croatian
How cool is this? The third translation of U2 – A Diary will be a Croatian version that’s due in stores on July 15 — just a few weeks before U2 brings the 360 World Tour to Zagreb in early August.
I’ll never get used to seeing my book in different languages.
The translation is being published by Menart, which I understand to be a music/record label that has just started translating and publishing books, too. And “U2 Dnevnik” is the first book they chose to translate! What’s really amazing to me is how incredibly enthusiastic Menart is about publishing and promoting this book. Get this:
- Just yesterday, they hosted a U2 Warm-up Party which included a DJ, a U2 tribute band, and “U2 Dnevnik” —
all of this on an airplane, it seems!not an airplane, as Marin says in the comments below. Thx for clarifying that, Marin. - On July 9, Menart is hosting a media event announcing the book. They invited me to attend, but it’s way too expensive to fly to Zagreb (about $3,000 USD) so they’ve asked me to send a 10-minute video answering some questions that the press might want answered. They say the video will air on Croatian TV (I’m not making that up) and during the press event.
- They’ve signed on Vecernji.hr as the media partner for the book launch, and they’re doing a contest where U2 fans will send in questions, they’ll pick the 10 best for me to answer, and when the answers are published, the winning fans get a copy of the book and a CD. (Presumably No Line….)
Is that amazing, or what? And to think that I couldn’t even convince my hometown newspaper to do a writeup on the book….
Hey. Yeah, this news has been on Croatian internet portals for some time now, with a few differences tho :p
The promotion wasnt in an airplane, but a club called Piranha (where the DJ and tribute band played). Also, Vecernji, nor the contest are not mentioned anywhere, so i guess those news have to be published yet.
On a side note, if u do get to answer 10 questions, i would suggest one, which is what can we find in your book that we dont in U2 by U2 (i think you already answered that on this site, but that question is the most often asked on Croatian U2 forum).
Anyways, congratz on the translation =)
It’s no wonder you couldn’t get the book featured in your hometown newspaper; after all, nobody’s heard of that band over here. But I hear they’re really big in Croatia! 😉
hey, just a little update. As expected the book was announced today (by the publisher, a member of the company that arranged U2 to play in Zagreb, and the 2 girls who translated the book (one being a hip-hop singer lol)).
Your video was shown on the conference (but only 5mins!), and it was indeed covered by the national television. Also, Vecernji covered it, and will be publishing a review of the book in the tomorrows papers.
And on a side note, the book will cost more here – as expected – than in USA, 38$.
Thx Marin. I found some coverage on Vecernji’s web site. Are there other web sites/media I should be looking at for reviews, articles?
Well, from what i’ve seen most Croatian web sites reported on the media event announcing the book (pretty much all websites have similar story written, some with event pics, and a few with ur video too), and theres some articles in the papers (even tho i expected a review of the book in Vecernji today, it wasnt a review, but 2 pages containing parts of ur book (years ’80, ’87 and ’07)).
I’m guessing the reviews will come a bit later, as the book gets on sale on the 15th july.
Thank you 🙂