#hellorijeka: Dictionary of Our Favourite Words, workshop

On Saturday, November 14 2026., at 11 a.m. Rijeka City Library organizes a creative workshop to create a shared illustrated book of favourite Croatian words. The workshop is part of the #hellorijeka project and is intended for our new citizens in Rijeka.

What is it like to learn a new language when every new word becomes a little window into a new city, its culture and everyday life?

During this creative workshop, we will create a shared illustrated book featuring our favourite words learned so far – a kind of “picture dictionary for adults”.

Each participant will choose one Croatian word they have learned that they particularly like, find interesting, funny or meaningful, and turn it into their own illustration. Using different drawing techniques, we will explore the meanings of the selected words, their connections to personal experiences and the way we perceive them.

Throughout the workshop, we will communicate in Croatian, practise the words we have learned and discover new expressions related to the illustrations. Each page of the book will feature one word, its illustration and the name of its creator, gradually bringing individual stories together into a shared book.

The result will be a unique visual dictionary that does more than teach words – it also tells the stories of the people who have learned them. The book will become a record of the first steps in learning Croatian – a collection of words, images, personal associations and different perspectives on life in a new city.

By the end of the workshop, we will have created a shared book that we can browse, read, exhibit or continue adding new words to.

Registration: Please register using the online form here.

About the facilitator:

Tanja Blašković holds a Master's degree in Art Education and currently lives and works in Rijeka. Her artistic practice spans a wide range of fields, including design and illustration, set and costume design, mural painting, the creation of plastic art installations, tapestry, applied arts and non-formal education.

She takes part in a variety of projects and collaborates with numerous associations and institutions in the fields of non-formal education and cultural production. She is one of the editors of the art fanzine Superkul and Beni, the first Croatian museum fanzine, published by the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rijeka (MMSU).

She is also the founder of the sustainable fashion brand Eston Teco and a member of the Croatian Association of Visual Artists (HDLU).

Her artistic work and her approach to non-formal education are characterised by the use and reuse of materials, with a strong emphasis on ecology and concepts such as zero-waste art.