Vladislav Bajac ( sr-Cyrl, Владислав Бајац, born 2 June 1954) is Serbian writer, poet, journalist and publisher.

Biography

He was born in Belgrade in 1954 and later studied philology at the

University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade ( sr, / ) is a public university in Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it merged with the Kragujevac-ba ...

. In 1993, he founded the publishing house ''Geopoetika'', which publishes fiction as well as nonfiction books about history, art, rock & roll, and archeology. ''Geopoetika'' has published ''Serbian Prose in Translation'', a collection of Serbian books translated into English. His books were translated into twenty languages. His best-known work is his 2008 novel, '' Hamam Balkanija'', for which he won the International Literature Prize Balkanika. Its chapters alternate between two timelines, both of which use characters based on real people. The contemporary timeline is a collection of vignettes in autobiographical first person narration told from Bajac's point of view. In the original edition it was printed in the

Cyrillic script The Cyrillic script ( ), Slavonic script or the Slavic script, is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking co ...

, and people such as

Alberto Manguel Alberto Manguel (born March 13, 1948, in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine-Canadian anthologist, translator, essayist, novelist, editor, and a former Director of the National Library of Argentina. He is the author of numerous non-fiction books such ...

and

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

appear alongside the author. The earlier timeline consists of a single story set in the sixteenth century, using omniscient third person narration, featuring the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire and

Suleiman the Magnificent Suleiman I ( ota, سليمان اول, Süleyman-ı Evvel; tr, I. Süleyman; 6 November 14946 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the West and Suleiman the Lawgiver ( ota, قانونى سلطان سليمان, Ḳ ...

. That story was originally printed in the

Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered with the exception of extensions (such as diacritics), it used to write English and th ...

. The book's themes, and its dual structure and narrative styles, raise questions about where identity comes from and how it is shaped by religion and national history. In 2017, Bajac has signed the

Declaration on the Common Language The Declaration on the Common Language ( sh, Deklaracija o zajedničkom jeziku / ) was issued in 2017 by a group of intellectuals and NGOs from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia who were working under the banner of a projec ...

of the

Croats The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They are also a recognized minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Austria, the Czech Republic, ...

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language. The majority of Serbs live in their na ...

, Bosniaks and

Montenegrins Montenegrins ( cnr, Црногорци, Crnogorci, or ; lit. "Black Mountain People") are a South Slavic ethnic group that share a common Montenegrin culture, history, and language, identified with the country of Montenegro. Genetics Accordi ...

Works

Poetry * ''Which way Leads To People'', 1972 * ''The Path of Haiku'', 1988 Short Stories * ''Europe On the Bull’s Back'', 1988 * ''Dream Coasters (Geopoetical Fables)'', 1992 * ''Gastronomadic Stories'', 2012 Novels * ''The Book of Bamboo'', 1989 * ''The Black Box (An Utopia On Subsequent Reality)'', 1993 * ''The Druid of Sindidun'', 1998 * ''Escape from Biography (A Life under Eight Names)'', 2001 * ''Europe Express (A Novel In Short Stories)'', 2003 * ''Hamam Balkania (A Novel and Other Stories)'', 2008 * ''Chronicles of Doubt'', 2016 English editions * ''Hamam Balkania'', Belgrade, Geopoetika, 2009 * ''Hamam Balkania'', Blooming Twig Books, New York & Tulsa, 2014 * ''Hamam Balkania'', Istros Books, London, 2014

Awards

* Dimitrije Mitrinovic Award (for the excellence in writing), Belgrade, Serbia, 2015. * Special Book Award of China, Beijing (for the Chinese culture contribution to the world), 2014. * Haiku awards at The International Itoen Haiku Poetry Contest, Tokyo, Japan, in both 1991. and 1993. * Stevan Pesic Award for the best 1995 prose book in 1996 for the revised edition * Borislav Pekic Foundation Prize for the best manuscript in 1993' * The 6th April Award (The Book Day) proclaimed by The Serbian Literary Union and Belgrade City Assembly as the best novel on (ancient) Belgrade in 1998. * The Golden Best-Seller Award for the Top ten best-selling books in 1999. * Branko Copic Foundation Award (Serbian Academy of Science and Art) for the best book in 1998. * Proclaimed as "The Novel of the Year" (1998) by Vecernje Novosti (Evening Daily News). * Award for one of ten best-selling books in 2001 * International Award for Collected Prose Work, Macedonia, 2003 * International Balkanika Award for the best book on the Balkans in 2007/2008, International jury *

Isidora Sekulić Award The Isidora Sekulić Award ( sr, Nagrada Isidora Sekulić, italics=yes, sr-cyr, Награда Исидора Секулић) is a Serbian, and former Yugoslav, literary prize established by the Belgrade municipality of Savski venac in 1967 and ...

for the best book in Serbia in 2008 * Hit Liber Award for one of ten Best-selling books in 2008 * Kocicevo pero Award, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2010 * Petar Kocic Award for the excellence in writing, Banjaluka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2010 * Ramonda Serbica Award for Lifetime achievement in literature and for contribution to literature and culture, Nis, Serbia, 2012 * Prozart Award for affirmation of Balkan literature, PRO-ZA Balkan Festival, Skopje, Macedonia, 2013

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bajac, Vladislav Living people Serbian novelists Serbian male short story writers Serbian short story writers Serbian publishers (people) Signatories of the Declaration on the Common Language Year of birth missing (living people)