Most read BH writer in the Arab world: "Sacrifice to the Wolf" is a novel that opens doors by itself

Mirsad Sinanović (61) has been working in journalism for more than 35 years. He is the recipient of the Association of Journalists of BiH award „War Reporter for 1994“. He has several  awards for prose, both in BiH and abroad. Today he lives in Sarajevo and works at TV Sarajevo. 

PATRIA: The reason for this conversation is your book „Sacrifice to the Wolf“ which was published in the Bosnian language in 2003, and in recent years has been published and sold in a large number of countries where Arabic is the official language. According to some facts, you are the most read Bosnian writer in Islamic countries. How did that happen?

SINANOVIĆ: It is difficult even for me to explain that a book suddenly becomes popular in a large number of countries where Arabic is the official language. But let me list some events, so we can arrive at the answer. The book was published in Sarajevo in 2003. Only in 2009, a distinguished professor from Cairo University, Dr. Muhamed Sejjid Addsuuki, saw the book. Our students in Cairo read it to him and simultaneously orally translated the book into Arabic, and he asked them to do this for days until they finally read it to him. Then he personally sought me out in Sarajevo. Given that the book's theme is the genocide of Muslims in eastern Bosnia, written based on authentic statements, he asked me to take him to Foča, to visit our refugees in the villages and talk to them. After he convinced himself of the truthfulness of the novel's content in the surrounding Foča villages, he returned to Cairo and asked the prestigious publishing house in the Islamic world „Dar-u-selam“ to translate and publish this book in Arabic, which was done.

The review was written by writer and professor of Arabic literature Iham Muhammed Sabri Bira Džakli. After I signed the contract with the director of this publishing house in 2010, the book appeared in Cairo bookstores. Everything else just happened. I sold the copyright, and this house sold it to others where Arabic is the official language. Everything happened very quickly. It involved enormous sales volumes, which surprised me as well. Today, readers from Kuwait, Palestine, Arabia, even Iraq, Alexandria contact me by email, and I translate and archive those letters.

„Sacrifice to the Wolf“ is an example of a novel that opens doors by itself, finding readers independently of the author. Those characters from the novel, created from 2001 to 2003, still live in the hearts of a large number of readers worldwide. Officially, the novel has had five editions in Bosnia, and at least as many have been printed „off the books“. The book has also been translated into English, with an afterword written by, which I am especially proud of, the famous journalist Roy Gutman, winner of the Pulitzer Prize. In recent years, two prominent film directors have spoken with me on several occasions about making a film based on this novel, and those discussions continue today. The problem is that, according to their ideas, this would have to be a high-budget film by our standards. We will see.  

PATRIA: Your novel „The Dream of Hasan Nazir“ was published nine years ago by the publishing house „Timaš“ from Turkey. As far as I know, the hero of the novel is Hasan Nazir, the builder of the Aladža Mosque. Given that, after its destruction, the reconstruction of this mosque, a national monument, is underway, this is a time to remember this story about the master builder and one of the most beautiful mosques in the Ottoman Empire. This is another interesting fact. As far as I know, you hinted at the construction of this mosque during the promotion in Turkey?

SINANOVIĆ: The book promotion was in Istanbul, at „Topkapi“, the palace of all sultans from the Ottoman era. What a promotion it was! When I watch the video recording of this promotion today, it feels like I am dreaming it all again. „Topkapi“ was packed, many people spoke about the book, about twenty TV stations. I said at the end that in my novel I preserved the Aladža Mosque in my imagination, and that the master builders of Turkey could physically revive it again and thus physically preserve it, to be as in the dream of its builder Hasan Nazir.

Those words deeply moved those present. That very evening, its construction was discussed, and today, the work is nearing completion. I am considering dramatizing the novel „The Dream of Hasan Nazir“, or having someone whose professional job it is to do it, and then offer it to some theater. It would be a gift for my Foča, the town where I finished elementary and high school, spent my childhood.

PATRIA: Theater critic Vojo Vujanović wrote a dramatization of your novel „Kulin“ a few years ago, performed by the National Theater from Mostar?

SINANOVIĆ: At that time, the guests of the Mostar Theater, only for this performance, were actors Sijamija and Kurić from Sarajevo, and the Ballet Ensemble of the capital. After the premiere in Mostar and Sarajevo, the performance, according to the choice of the then selector, was also performed at international festivals in Brčko and Zenica. It would be a sin not to say that a very successful dramatization of my novel was written by dramaturge Ornela Čolpa. The directors who read it gave it the highest rating. After Vujo's dramatization, I think it is time to offer Ornela's to the Artistic Council of the National Theater in Sarajevo.

PATRIA: Many are waiting for the release of your novel 'Sokollu Mehmed-paša'. The publishing house „Planjaks“ announced its publication this year? Again a historical theme.

SINANOVIĆ: I thought I would not deal with history anymore, but it imposes itself on me. I accidentally saw several authentic documents in the Ottoman language showing that Mehmed's father's name was Džemaludin, his grandfather Hasan, and his great-grandfather also had a Muslim name, while his great-great-grandfather had a Bogomil name.

In those population registers from that time, there is no Baja or Bajica, and that Makarije was a Greek. This led me to research from Mehmed's taking as a boy from the village of Sokol, in the town of Rudo, the district of Višegrad, all the way to the assassination attempt on him. This is a story in which Mehmed is shown as he is, without any mysticism or legends. What is new for the reader is that Mehmed was a practical believer from an early age, hence his nickname „the wise vizier.“

When Sultan Fatih descended to Ravne bakije by Lake Crepoljsko in 1463, he accepted the advice of his sheikh Akšemsettin to give this land the status of a special province in the Empire, given the uniqueness of the creation of its people, as the sheikh told him. Even then, a special divširma (recruitment regulation) applied to Bosnia, only circumcised children were selected for the court. Mind you, Mehmed was born in 1505/6, more than 40 years after the arrival of Sultan Fatih, and even before those four decades, there was Islam in Bosnia.

This is evidenced by the fact that Sultan Fatih, before leaving for the founder of the City Isak-beg Ishaković, visited seven kaburovs, seven great saints, and they lived and „passed away“ long before he came to Bosnia.  Even today, each of us can visit these kaburovs in the territory of Sarajevo and verify what I am saying. The novel is interesting for those who like such topics.

PATRIA: In literary circles, it is often heard that art today is freed from any role and responsibility in society. Many say that would kill its creativity. What is your stance?

SINANOVIĆ: Art today is involved in the general destruction of man and the world, it distances itself from the Truth and renders its existence meaningless. It is as if someone in some high circles is programming its downfall, as well as that of society as a whole, which it denies. Modern art proves itself through the author's individualization, the destruction of everything existing, especially any established principles. Incidentally, democracy is the most vulnerable system of government in history.

Do whatever you want, because you are free. You can desecrate everything, and call it „conquering freedom.“ We are in a time of great scientific achievements, but we are rapidly heading towards our ruin, which shows that the progress of science is not progress in discovering the Truth. And it is difficult to explain why no one returns to traditional knowledge when we are so rapidly heading, with our delusions, towards the collapse of civilization and traditional values, and there is no dispute about that. 

We have also joined in the destruction of our own values. It is impossible that the two greatest BH writers, Nedžad Ibrišimović and Abdulah Sidran, are not recipients of the Meša Award for Literature. Parallel social processes have been created, in which value is humiliated and hypocrisy is rewarded and celebrated. We are in a position to take the greatest truths as the greatest lies, and absurdities as truths.

For example, violence dominates in film art. At the beginning of a TV series, you can hear: “Welcome to Miami, where crimes happen every day.“ Art presents a wrong path as the path, and the media mentally destroy us with sensations and crime news. Everything is subject to profit. And everything, unfortunately, is more important than a human being.