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 (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

currently residing in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

Biography

Skenderija began publishing poetry, prose and criticism in Bosnian (

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian ( / ), also known as Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS), is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. It is a pluricentric language with four mutually i ...

) in the late 1980s, graduating from the

University of Sarajevo The University of Sarajevo (Bosnian language, Bosnian, Croatian language, Croatian and Serbian language, Serbian: ''Univerzitet u Sarajevu'' / Sveučilište u Sarajevu / Универзитет у Сарајеву) is a List of universities in Bo ...

in 1991. After surviving six months of the

siege of Sarajevo The siege of Sarajevo () was a prolonged military blockade of Sarajevo, the capital of Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, during the ethnically charged Bosnian War. After it was initially besieged by Serbian forces of the Yugoslav People's Arm ...

, he fled to

, where he received a Ph.D. in Information Science from

Charles University Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...

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

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

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 Boroughs of New York City, borough of Queens. Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to four other Queens neighborhoods: Long Island City, Queens, Long Island C ...

. He now lives in

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

while working for the Czech National Library of Technology. 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, either voluntarily or under compulsion, provides testimonial evidence, either oral or written, of what they know or claim to know. A witness might be compelled to provide testimony in court, before a grand jur ...

'' * ''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'', 2002; '' Eat This!'', 2004; and ''

Dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

'', 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