Ferida Duraković

Ferida Duraković (1957) graduated from the Department of Yugoslav Literature and H/S Language at the Faculty of Philosophy in Sarajevo in 1980. She published her first collection of poetry, Bal pod maskama, in 1977, for which she received the Literary Youth Award of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the "Svjetlost" Award for the best first book by a young author. Published 25 books of various genres, among others the book of poetry Mala noćna svjetiljka, Oči koje me gledaju, Srce tame, Kao kiša u japanskim filmovima,, and the book of columns and essays Pokret otpora and the book of prose/novel Ne lažem Tita mi. She also writes children's books: Još jedna bajka o ruži, Mikijeva i Amilina abeceda, Vjetrov prijatelj and others. She translates from the English language. She has published books of selected poems in the USA, Bulgaria, Italy and Poland, and a book of prose in Serbia. Her songs have been translated into forty languages ​​around the world. She is the recipient of the Fund for Free Expression USA Award in 1993, the Vasyl Stus Freedom-to-Write Award in 1999, the BH Radio 1 Award for Best Radio Play in 2015, and the Award for Best Story for Children at the "Ćopićevim stazama djetinjstva" event in 2018. Biser International named her Woman of the Year in 2008. She was nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Award for Mikijeva i Amilina abeceda in 2012. She worked as a mother tongue teacher in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as a program editor at the Skenderija Youth Center, an editor and proofreader, and as the executive director of the PEN Center BiH from 1992 to 2013, when she retired prematurely. She lives with her husband, daughter, and four cats in Sarajevo.

Photo (c) Imrana Kapetanović, 2018. Drawing on the photo (c) Naida Čelik