28th anniversary of Alija Nametak's death on Sunday

Alija Nametak was one of the most famous Bosnian-Herzegovinian writers in the mid-20th century, whose works remain deeply etched in the country's culture to this day, writes the BH news agency Patria (NAP). 

Nametak was born on March 6, 1906, in Mostar, or the city of light as many writers described the Herzegovinian pearl. He completed his mekteb, elementary school, and gymnasium there, and completed his studies of literature in the then Serbo-Croatian language, as well as French and Russian, at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb, after which he moved to Sarajevo at the age of 23, where he began working as a collaborator for "Novi Behar", and a little later as a professor in several high schools.

In 1945, Nametak was sentenced to 15 years in prison for participating in Sarajevo's literary and cultural life during the NDH (served nine years). After his release from prison, he worked as a collaborator at the Institute for the Study of Folklore in Sarajevo, then as a librarian at the Music Academy until his retirement in 1973.

Nametak began his literary work in his early youth, first by publishing folk tales and folk songs of Bosnian-Herzegovinian Muslims, and then as a student, he began writing novellas and short stories and publishing them in literary magazines in Zagreb.

Upon arriving in Sarajevo, he wrote for "Novi Behar", "Kalendar Narodne uzdanice", "Glasnik Islamske vjerske zajednice", and numerous other magazines and newspapers of that time. He published several collections of short stories, novellas, travelogues, and several collections of folk creativity: folk epic and lyrical poems and folk tales from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He died on November 8, 1987, in Sarajevo.

Some of Alija Nametak's works include: Bajram žrtava (Zagreb, 1931), Dobri Bošnjani (Zagreb, 1937), Ramazanske priče (Sarajevo, 1941), Za obraz (Zagreb, 1942), Mladić u prirodi (Sarajevo, 1943), Dan i sunce (Zagreb, 1944), Abdullahpaša u kasabi (Sarajevo, 1945), Trava zaboravka (Zagreb, 1966), Tuturuza i šeh Meco (Zagreb, 1978), Sarajevski nekrologij (Zürich, 1994)