Bosnia-Herzegovina poet, writer and screenwriter Abdulah Sidran died last night at the age of 80, after a long and serious illness. He was one of the most significant authors of the written word in the recent history of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was awarded the most important literary and social awards, and he wrote the scripts for some of the cult films.
Even as a young man, he started writing, edited youth papers and magazines, lecture forums. Until April 1992, he was employed at RTV Sarajevo, as a leading dramaturg. His literary oeuvre began with poems and prose in the 60s of the last century, which are often called “sixty-eighties” by the generation of young writers. He was awarded the most important literary and social awards for his poetry books. He is the winner of the Sixth of April Award of the City of Sarajevo, the Annual Award of the Writers’ Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Annual Award of the “Svjetlost” Publishing Company, and the Dragon Award.
He was a member of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina and a master’s candidate in chess.
For the poetry book “Sarajevo Taboo” he received the “Freedom Award” of the PEN Center of France, a recognition that went to greats like Solzhenitsyn, Sakharov or Havel.
His poetry has been translated into German, French, Italian…
He is one of the most important screenwriters in the cinematography of the former Yugoslavia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, whose lines have become part of the collective memory. He wrote the scripts for the films “Do you remember Dolly Bell?”, “Father on a business trip”, “Kuduz” and “The Perfect Circle”, “Holiday in Sarajevo”. As a film author, he is the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions.
In his creative work, among other things, he published poetry books “Morija”, “Sarajevo collection”, “Tears of the mothers of Srebrenica”, “Planeta Sarajevo”, “Why is Venice sinking”, the drama “In Zvornik I left my heart”, the collection journalistic texts “Plowing the sea”, autobiographical novel “Raw skin purchase”…
He also received the “November 25” award for life’s work in literature, BHRT writes.
