“DIARY OF INSOMNIA” HAD EVENTFUL LIFE, READERS MADE UP FOR THE SILENCE OF CRITICS

PALE, SEPTEMBER 2 /SRNA/ – Poet Đorđo Sladoje marked half a century since the publication of his first book “Diary of Insomnia”, bringing this year’s Days of Željko Grujić literary event to a close tonight.

Sladoje spoke about the creation of his first book, its unusual and turbulent journey to readers, as well as the themes that have defined his poetry from the very beginning. He stressed that although it was his first work, the book was widely read, saying that just a few months after its publication, booksellers told him that a second edition might follow, but it never did. “The book was met with silence by the critics in Sarajevo, but the readers more than made up for it. Even today, I have colleagues and contemporaries who know some of the poems from that book by heart,” Sladoje told the press. He revealed that a particularly strong encouragement for him came when he saw his first book displayed in a bookstore window. “When you see your book in a shop window, and it was white, with just some illustration, you don’t know whether it has landed there or whether it is about to fly somewhere. That is how I experienced the publication of my first book,” Sladoje recalled. Speaking about his literary development, Sladoje said that he began writing poetry as a boy, when he composed humorous poems in the traditional decasyllabic verse about events in his village. According to him, humor remained an integral part of his character and literary expression, which gradually led to “Diary of Insomnia”, in which the key themes of his homeland and childhood were expanded through new experiences and historical, national, religious and other themes. He stressed that the core of his poetry has remained the same, but has been enriched over time by new experiences. A poetry evening featuring Đorđo Sladoje at the amphitheater of the Faculty of Philosophy brought the event held in honour of Željko Grujić to a close. During this year’s fourth edition of the event, a collection of papers on the work and personality of Željko Grujić, titled “In Tune with Meaning” was presented, completing the work on showcasing his rich literary legacy. Željko Grujić was born in 1961 in Sarajevo. From the beginning of the war, he worked as a journalist for SRNA, and from 1994 to 1997 he served as its editor-in-chief. Grujić withdrew from journalism at the beginning of 2000 and, from 2004, continued his professional career at the National Library in Pale, where he established the Local Heritage Department, one of the best of its kind in Republika Srpska. He was a member of the Association of Republika Srpska Writers and the author of several notable literary works. Grujić died on September 3, 2022, in Pale, at the age of 61.