The International Literature Festival in Tuzla, the Cum Grano Salis, has become a meeting place for writers and book-lovers in the Western Balkan region. This year’s program of events included art exhibitions, promotions of books, round-tables, performances and, of course, the formal announcement of the winner of the prestigious Meša Selimović Award.
It seems that this year’s festival in Tuzla was all about Norway. Bekim Sejranović was announced the winner of the Meša Selimović Award 2008, for the best novel in the region, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and Serbia. Part of his award-winning novel Nigdje, niotkuda (Nowhere, from nowhere) is actually set in Norway. "It is really hard to answer the question about what the story is about, but a general topic, though, is the search for an identity, not just for some roots, but how to go further", Sejranović said in an interview with Radio Slobodna Bosna.
The main character who also is the narrator in the novel can not seem to find a place to belong to. The novel is actually following the authors own biographic stations, Bosnia-Croatia- Norway. The character grows up in Brčko with his grandparents, moves to Rijeka as a teenager and ends up in Norway. He tries to move back to Bosnia and Croatia but finds out he does not belong their either.
Sejranović is already known for translating Bikubesong by Frode Grytten to Croatian and he also used to lecture in Yugoslav literature at the University of Oslo. In a interview with Oslobodjenje Sejranović admits that he maybe knows Norwegian literature better then B/C/S literature. "They also deal with existential problems and topics, but the existence in Scandinavia differs from the one we have here in the Balkans. So, they deal with the life problems which can seem banal to us, from this postwar, post-transition perspective, but not to them. Everyone thinks that his sufferings are the worst. To put it picturesquely banal: while here we write about poverty, their problem is how to fight consumers' society", Sejranović commented. For the time being the author commutes between Norway and the Balkans working on some new translations and novels.
The Norwegian Embassy was glad to contribute again at the literary festival. Friday September 4th children could enjoy Norwegian fairytales enacted by actress Jasminka Pašić at the City Library of Tuzla. Ms Pašić based her performance on selected excerpts from Norwegian Folktales by Asbjørnsen and Moe, translated to Bosnian by Munib Delalić.
Actress Jasminka Pasic enacting Norwegian fairytales. Photo: Royal Norwegian Embassy
Ambassador Jan Braathu participated in a round- table with the mayor of Tuzla, Jasmin Imamović and Professor Mirsad Kunić on the topic Norwegian literature at the Ismet Mujezinović atelier. On this occasion the Norwegian Ambassador also introduced the Norwegian Book package and officially presented it to the Head Librarian of Tuzla City Public Library.
The Book package is a selection of twenty-six books by Norwegian authors that have been translated to B/C/S languages and is a cultural outreach project of the Norwegian Embassy in Sarajevo. The package contains writings of Henrik Ibsen and Knut Hamsun, but also works of contemporary authors such as Kjell Askildsen, Lars Saabye Christensen, Dag Solstad and the latest Norwegian writer to make waves on the international literary scene, Per Petterson. There are also samples of translated non-fiction, ranging from debate books on Islam and world politics, to human rights and Christian ethics.
“Each book is, in a certain way, an “ambassador” of Norway, presenting my country in a way that no Embassy can”, ambassador Braathu said in his speech. In his speech, Ambassador Braathu gave an outline of Norwegian literary themes as shown in the translated books donated to the Tuzla City Public Library. He discussed the work of Knut Hamsun, reminding listeners that this year marks the 150th anniversary of the controversial author’s birth. The book package contains three Hamsun books: Growth of the Soil (1917), for which Hamsun was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, Hunger (1890), and The Ring is Closed (1936).
Similar packages will be donated to city and school libraries all over Bosnia and Herzegovina over the coming months, hoping that people in Bosnia and Herzegovina will want to explore Norwegian literature. The Ambassador was pleased to donate the first Book package to the City Public Library in Tuzla at the Cum Grano Salis. It was also informed that libraries receiving the book package will be given new translations of Norwegian literature as they are published.