Literary treasure of Bosnia and Herzegovina: 108 years since the birth of the great Skender Kulenović

BOSANSKI PETROVAC, (Patria) - On this day in 1910, Skender Kulenović, one of the greatest writers in the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was born in Bosanski Petrovac.

He completed primary school in his hometown, and then, after his family suddenly became impoverished (agrarian reform), he moved to his mother's birthplace, Travnik, where from 1921 to 1930 he attended the Jesuit Gymnasium as an external student.

In the third grade of gymnasium, he debuted with his first literary work (Soneti ocvale primule). From 1930, he studied law at the University of Zagreb. In 1933, he became a member of SKOJ, and in 1935, a member of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia.

He collaborated with numerous newspapers and magazines, and in 1937, together with Hasan Kikić and Safet Krupić, he launched the Muslim magazine Putokaz in Zagreb.

At the beginning of World War II in 1941, he joined the First Partisan Detachment of Bosanska Krajina. He was a member of AVNOJ and ZAVNOBiH, and during the war he wrote poems and edited the newspapers Krajiški partizan, Bosanski udarnik, Glas, and Oslobođenje.

From 1945 to 1947, he served as the director of drama at the National Theatre in Sarajevo, and edited Novo doba, Pregled, Književne novine, and Nova misao. From 1950 to 1953, he was the secretary of the National Assembly of FNRJ, and after the ban on Nova misao, he was punished and appointed as a proofreader at Borba. In 1955, he moved to Mostar to take the position of dramaturge at the National Theatre, and for a time he was an editor at Prosveta in Belgrade.

He received numerous awards and recognitions, including the Twenty-Seventh of July Award of SR Bosnia and Herzegovina (1971) and the AVNOJ Award (1972). He was a member of SANU, ANUBiH, and JAZU.

He died on January 25, 1978, in Belgrade.

The most famous literary works of Skender Kulenović include: Stojanka majka Knežopoljka, a poem, 1945; comedies (Djelidba, Večera, A šta sad?), 1947; "Ševa", a poem, 1952; Soneti, 1968; Divanhana, short stories, 1972; Gromovo đule, stories for children, 1975; Ponornica, a novel, 1977.