Šumski duh

The first novel of Goran Samardžić tells the story of Kosta who is growing up in a concrete jungle in Belgrade’s suburbs and has to fight his way through a violent neighbourhood full of tough boys, hooligans and machos until he grows up and is faced with permanent insecurity and fear of death in the besieged Sarajevo. The book, based heavily on author’s own experiences, was awarded with the Best Book of the Year Award of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian Writers’ association and was shortlisted for the renowned Jutarnji list newspaper award. Jagna Pogačnik from Jutarnji list wrote: “Samardžić writes about the war, and his bare and powerful fragments are among the best that has been written on this topic. His sharp-edged sentences do not leave scars only on paper, but on the readers as well.”