The literature of our region has strong women’s voices, and many of them are read and translated around the world. These are six novels worth having on your shelf, whether you want something for one evening or a book that will stay with you for years.
Lana Bastašić, Catch the Rabbit
The Banja Luka writer tells the story of two childhood friends, Sara and Lejla, who after twelve years of silence set off together on a journey from Mostar to Vienna. A book about friendship, language and what we never say out loud. It won the European Union Prize for Literature in 2020.
Dubravka Ugrešić, The Museum of Unconditional Surrender
A fragmented, clever and melancholy novel about exile, memory and the objects that outlive people and countries. Ugrešić is one of the most translated authors from the region, and this book is a good entry point into her work.
Slavenka Drakulić, As If I Am Not There
A hard but important novel about a woman held in a camp during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Drakulić writes about violence without sensationalism and about survival without false comfort. The book was also adapted into a film of the same name.
Ivana Bodrožić, Hotel Tito
A girl from Vukovar lives for years as a refugee in a hotel with her mother and brother, with no news of her father. A novel about growing up in a temporary life, told in a voice that is childlike, funny and devastating at once.
Olja Savičević Ivančević, Adios, Cowboy
Sisters return to their hometown on the Adriatic coast after their brother’s death and try to understand what really happened. The novel is written as a homage to westerns, full of humour and poetry in its language.
Svetlana Velmar-Janković, Lagum
The story of a Belgrade bourgeois family and life after 1944, told through the memories of one woman. A quiet, precise book about loss, survival and dignity.
The best way to get to know a place is to read the women who wrote about it.