Nova Istra

452 NOVA ISTRA Literary, art and cultural journal Zeitschrift für Literatur, Kunst und Kultur Rivista di letteratura, arte e cultura Pula, Croatia / Kroatien / Croazia, No. 1-2/2015 On the 20th anniversary of the journal and the 25 th anniversary of the Istrian Branch of the Croatian Writers’ Association With the current issue, the journal Nova Istra (now with a new subheading: literary – art – culture) is about to enter its 20 th anniversary (the first issue no. 1-2/1996 was released in mid-June in 1996), just as its publisher, the Istrian branch of the Croatian Writers’ Association (based in Pula) celebrates its 25 th anniversary (launched on 2 nd July 1990). Many things considering literature, culture in gen- eral, and socio-political context have occurred and changed since then; we have also survived one war, the Croatian War of Independence (1991-1995). Due to its lit- erature and overall culture, also its formal/administrative EU membership, Croatia has ‘returned’ where it is all the time, from where it never went away, and where it has belonged since its earliest beginnings – Europe, in other words to the network of its nations, languages and cultures. At least, it should be understood like this from ‘both sides’. Instead of occasional words, the introduction includes considerations about the above-mentioned cultural facts, the two anniversaries, signed not only by some dis- tinguished authors in the Croatian literary, scientific, cultural, social life…, but also by our associates, supporters, or to put it briefly – colleagues and friends; this jour- nal would not be possible without them. They are very different according to their generations, viewpoints and aesthetical-poetical ideas, and such difference repre- sents one of the foundations, a challenging abundance, characteristic for this journal and its publisher ever since the very beginning, and we hope that it will be like this in the future. As long as there are journals released. Of course, there will be enough space for other artistic expressions and media, for considering cultural issues, inter- esting historical ideas, philosophical and theoretical texts in general, along with the current fiction and translations that connect peoples, languages, cultures.. This is also an occasion to mark the hundredth anniversary of birth and 20 th anni- versary of death of Ljubica Ivezić, Ph.D. (1915-1995), the Professor and good ‘men-