Speech 5: Dubravka Ugrešić

When the war broke out in former Yugoslavia in 1991, the Croatian writer Dubravka Ugrešić adopted a decidedly anti-nationalist stance. Her public critique of both Serbs and Croats made her an object of hate for the passionately nationalistic media, as well as politicians, fellow writers and anonymous citizens. Stigmatised as a “traitor”, “public enemy” and “witch”, she left her home country in 1993. In exile she continued publishing novels (most recently: Baba Yaga Laid an Egg, 2009) and essay collections (most recently: Nobody’s Home, 2007). Her articles are published in European quality newspapers such as Die Zeit, Neue Zürcher Zeitung and Die Weltwoche. Her books have been translated into more than 20 languages and won her prestigious awards such as the Austrian State Prize for European Literature. Today Dubravka Ugrešić lives and works in Amsterdam.

Speech at the Akademietheater, 25 March 2010

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