Although they come from different cities, four young writers share a great love for the written word. By their example, they show that literature in Bosnia and Herzegovina is not dying out.
Ivo Andrić is still the only Nobel laureate in literature from any of the former Yugoslav countries. His works were inspired by Bosnia, and on one occasion, he declared: “Bosnia is my spiritual homeland.” A permanent exhibition about his life and literary work is located in the Ivo Andrić Memorial Birthplace Museum in Travnik. One of the main features of the artistic and cultural expression of Bosnia and Herzegovina is contained within his works.
The climate and soil in Herzegovina favor the development of one of the most consumed plants – tobacco, the so-called “yellow gold” which ensured the financial income of numerous Herzegovinian families. While trying to restore the recognition of Herzegovinian tobacco, the memory of the tradition was immortalized by the opening of the Tobacco Museum in Ljubuški.
Although she is a professor of Serbian language and literature by profession, Renata Šikanjić Novaković, from Prijedor, expresses her creativity through designing and producing wool clothing under the brand name, “VunenaR.”
KUIKO KOIKO has shown to its owners that when one door closes, another door opens. Set up at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the characteristic name of the brand is composed of abbreviations of the words for “tiny houses” (kućice) and “cubes” (kockice), which were their first products.
Plagued by nationalist-political narratives and rabble-rousing rhetoric, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is facing its worst political crisis since the end of the 1992-1995 conflict. However, street art in the country’s capital points to the possibility of reconciliation and peaceful coexistence in a society still polarized by the wounds of war.