BOSNIA AND HERCEGOVINA
Faruk Šehić (1970) is a Bosnian-Herzegovinian writer and journalist who spends his free time fishing. He is the winner of the 2013 European Union Literature Prize for the novel "Quiet Flows the Una". Literary criticism recognizes him as the voice of the downtrodden generation of authors born in the 1970s. His books have been translated into sixteen languages and published in twenty countries.
He was born in Bihać, in the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. He studied veterinary medicine in Zagreb, but returned to his hometown before finishing college. He was a member of the fifth corps of the BiH Army in the period 1992-1995. He was seriously wounded once. He finished the war with the rank of lieutenant and was honored for his skills.
After the war, he devoted himself to literature. He writes poetry, prose, essays, art and literary criticism. The first published work is "Poems in the making" in which the war appears as the main motive. He transferred his experiences from the war in the collection of short stories "Under Pressure". This work, as well as "Hit Depot" and "Transsarajevo" acquired a cult status among the readership and were published in several editions.
In 2011, he received the "Mesha Selimović" award for "Quiet Flows the Una" for the best novel published on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia and Montenegro. For the poetry collection "My Rivers" he received the "Risto Ratković" awards for the best poetry collection in Serbia, BiH, Croatia and Montenegro for 2013/2014 and the "Annual Award" of the "Society of Writers of BiH" for 2014. He has also received the "XXXI Premio Letterario Camaiore – Francesco Belluomini (Premio Internazionale)" award for the poetry selection "Ritorno alla natura". His latest published book is "Cinnamon Letters, Diamond Creatures".
He currently lives in Sarajevo. He writes for the daily newspaper "Liberation".
„“We are our own enemies here, but over there, there are no enemies – only survivors.""
Knjiga o Uni (Quiet Flows the Una)
Translation from Bosnian: Igor Isakovski
"Testimony that literature is able to help, that it has an active therapeutic function, but not only that. This book is a testament to the fact that literature can reach out and give the reader insight into the metaphysical structure of the world, make things dazzlingly clear. It's simply a masterpiece." – Vladimir Arsenić
"Perhaps the most beautifully written book about one of the ugliest, most despicable wars ever..." – Olja Savičević Ivančević
"Whether or not Husar's dream book, as the foundation of a new culture, is at all possible, people formed on literature such as Sehić's or films such as 'Waltz with Bashir' will have a little more difficulty being recruited into 'saints' purposes than all those raised on the cultural patterns of the hero and the victim…" – Draško Luković
Other translations:
"Under Pressure" (Translation from Bosnian: Igor Isakovski), Blesok, Skopje, 2012
"Hit Depot" (Translation from Bosnian: Nikola Madjirov), Makedonska Reč, 2011