Fifteen writers from countries that used to make up Yugoslavia have united in an effort to overcome the current "cultural and political chauvinism" in the region and introduce "European standards for democracy and culture." Calling themselves Group 99, the writers issued their founding declaration at the book fair yesterday.
The idea for Group 99, modeled in part after Group 47, the German post-war writers' group that included Guenter Grass and Heinrich B ll, came up at the Leipzig Book Fair earlier this year. The 15 writers met in Darmstadt before the book fair and were hosted by the Frankfurt Book Fair.
According to media accounts, some of the writers, whose leaders are Freimut Duve and Nenad Popovic, hadn't met since before the series of wars in the former Yugoslavia began.
