Sasha Skenderija (born 4 July 1968) is a Bosnian-American

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

currently residing in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

Biography

Skenderija began publishing poetry, prose and criticism in Bosnian (

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia an ...

) in the late 1980s, graduating from the

University of Sarajevo The University of Sarajevo ( Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian: ''Univerzitet u Sarajevu'' / Sveučilište u Sarajevu / Универзитет у Сарајеву) is a public university located in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the largest ...

in 1991. After surviving six months of the

siege of Sarajevo The Siege of Sarajevo ( sh, Opsada Sarajeva) was a prolonged blockade of Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, during the Bosnian War. After it was initially besieged by the forces of the Yugoslav People's Army, the city was then be ...

, he fled to

, where he received a

Ph.D A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

. in

Information Science Information science (also known as information studies) is an academic field which is primarily concerned with analysis, collection, classification, manipulation, storage, retrieval, movement, dissemination, and protection of informatio ...

from Charles University (1997). In 1999, with the help of translator and

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

linguistics professor Wayles Browne, Skenderija arrived in Ithaca, New York. He relocated to New York City in 2010 and lived in

Astoria, Queens Astoria is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City borough of Queens. Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to three other Queens neighborhoods: Long Island City to the southwest, Sunnyside to the southeast ...

. He now lives in

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

while working for the

Czech National Library of Technology The Czech National Library of Technology ( cs, Národní technická knihovna, abbreviated as NTK) is located at Technická 6 in Prague 6. The building also houses a branch of the Municipal Library of Prague. The former site of the National Library ...

. Skenderija is one of the most renowned Bosnian poets born since 1960, and his work confronts a range of experience, from the quotidian to the polemical, while pushing the boundaries of the genre. He ranks among the Bosnian poets with the most English-language reviews.

Works

Books of poetry (Bosnian)

* ''Golo O'' * ''Kako naslikati žar-pticu'' * ''Ništa nije kao na filmu'' * ''Praški fraktali'' * ''Zašto je patuljak morao biti ustrijeljen'' * ''Rt Dobre Nade''

Books of poetry (English translation)

* ''Why the Dwarf Had to be Shot.'' * ''Cape of Good Hope''

Poems in Anthologies

His poetry has been included in several Bosnian and Croatian anthologies and translated int
CzechEnglish
Macedonian and Slovenian: * ''Prague Tales: A Collection of Central European Contemporary Writing'', * ''Absinthe, New European Writing'', * ''There is Less and Less Space: Panorama of the Newest Bosnian Poetry (in Bosnian)'', * ''Scar on the Stone: Contemporary Poetry from Bosnia'', * ''Conan Lives Here: Young Bosnian Poetry 1992-1996 (in Croatian)'', * ''Messages from the Bottom of the Night: Literature of Bosnia and Herzegovina under Siege and in Exile (in Czech)'', * ''The Passion of Difference/Dark Sound of Emptiness: Croatian Poetry of the 1990s (in Croatian)'' English translations of his poems have also been included in: * ''Balkan Visions and Silver Visions II,'' * ''

Witness In law, a witness is someone who has knowledge about a matter, whether they have sensed it or are testifying on another witnesses' behalf. In law a witness is someone who, either voluntarily or under compulsion, provides testimonial evidence, e ...

'' * ''Like a Fragile Index of the World: Poems for David Skorton'' * '' Spirit of Bosnia'' *''The City That Never Sleeps: Poems of New York'' Skenderija also contributed lyrics to three albums of the cult Sarajevo techno-industrial band SCH (''

VRIL ''The Coming Race'' is a novel by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, published anonymously in 1871. It has also been published as ''Vril, the Power of the Coming Race''. Some readers have believed the account of a superior subterranean master race and th ...

'', 2002; '' Eat This!'', 2004; and '' Dance'', 2007).

References

External links

Author's web site

Reading excerpt from Prague Fractals
(link to video)
Sasha Skenderija on Google Scholar
{{DEFAULTSORT:Skenderija, Sasha 1968 births Living people People from Vitez Bosnia and Herzegovina poets Bosnia and Herzegovina writers Bosnia and Herzegovina emigrants to the United States Charles University alumni University of Sarajevo alumni