David Albahari

David Albahari (pronounced [dǎv̞id albaxǎri], born 1948 in Peć, SFR Yugoslavia) is a Serbian writer of Jewish origin, residing in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Albahari writes mainly novels and short stories. He is also an established translator from English into Serbian. He is a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. He graduated from the University of Belgrade.^[1]

Albahari published the first collection of short stories "Porodično vreme" (Family Time) in 1973. He became better known to wider audience in 1982 with a volume "Opis smrti" (Description of Death) for which he got Ivo Andrić award. In 1991 he became the chair of the Federation of Jewish Communes of Yugoslavia, and worked on evacuation of the Jewish population from besieged Sarajevo. In 1994, he moved with his family to Calgary in the Canadian province of Alberta, where he still lives. He continues to write and publish in the Serbian language.

In the late 1980s, Albahari initiated the first formal petition to legalize marijuana in Yugoslavia.

His books were translated into several languages and six of them are available in English: Words Are Something Else (1996), Tsing (1997), Bait (2001), Gotz and Meyer (2003, UK) (2005, US), Snow Man (2005), and Leeches (2011).

In 2012 he was awarded the Vilenica Prize.

Albahari has been contributing to Geist magazine.

References

• Homepage in Serbian and English
• Biography at Internationales Literaturfestival Berlin
• "Marijuana March in Belgrade"
• David Albahari at Geist.com
• Biography at Zandonai Editore

Bibliography

• Zink, Emanuela Zandonai Editore, Rovereto 2009
• L’esca (original title: "Mamac"), Emanuela Zandonai Editore, Rovereto 2008

Notes

External links

• Voices on Antisemitism Interview with David Albahari from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum