Women in Red: More Balkan Women on English Wikipedia

I have joined WikiProject Women in Red to help address the gender gap on Wikipedia.

My first project is dedicated to three extraordinary Serbian poets and authors, who have all won numerous notable prizes and are all represented by remarkable poetry collections in English translation. Yet, Radmila Lazić, Ana Ristović and Milena Marković didn’t have pages on English Wikipedia until I recently created them.

This is just the beginning, as a lot can be done to add and improve articles for many significant women from the Balkans and beyond. The Serbian literary space is particularly lacking in photographs that adhere to English Wikipedia image use policy, so contributions in that area would be much appreciated. Feel free to contact me if I can be of some help with the process.

Writing in the San Francisco Botanical Garden

In-person literary events are thankfully back and it's best to start outdoors! I'm excited to lead Prose in Nature with The Ruby and Green Apple Books, at the gorgeous San Francisco Botanical Garden on May 21. There will be an amazing group of writers and artists, discussing and creating work inspired by the natural world.

For more information and to RSVP please visit the event page. Hope to see you in the garden!

Pushcart Prize

My short story "A Man at the End of the Hallway" has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. I am honored to see my work among the outstanding nominees published in Scoundrel Time, including Olga Zilberbourg's story from her collection Like Water, which has been one of my favorite books this fall. Many thanks to Scoundrel Time editors, especially Karen Bender, whose work has been a huge inspiration.

Play on Words at San Jose Museum of Art

I am excited to be among 15 Bay Area writers included in Play on Words show, on the theme of New Terrains. Original prose, poetry, and theater will be performed by local actors on 2/24, at San Jose Museum of Art. 

Read more about my New Terrains flash fiction piece, and reserve your free ticket. Hope to see you at the show!

Why There Are Words, February 14 in Sausalito

The award winning literary series Why There Are Words has recently celebrated its ninth anniversary. Founded by Peg Alford Pursell, it hosts monthly readings in Sausalito, and regular events in New York, Los Angeles, and five additional cities in the U.S.

I am looking forward to reading on the theme of "Somewhere Else", alongside Anita Felicelli, Julayne Lee, Micah Perks, Robert Rorke, and Christy Stillwell. Please join us if you can!

Post-Yugoslav Reading in 2018

It has been a great year for new books from the space of my old country, and I've been excited to write about it for The Millions. The three books I've reviewed range from a literary journey of master novelist Dubravka Ugresic, to the family sagas of first-time authors Sofija Stefanovic and Tania Romanov.

READ FULL REVIEW

Romanov's and Stefanovic's books are originally written in English, but Ugresic's is not. My summer trip to Belgrade was a good opportunity to purchase a local edition of Fox and revisit Ugresic's brilliant prose in the original language.

In Belgrade bookstores, it was also great to see a new edition of Goran Petrovic's Sitničarnica „Kod srećne ruke“, one of my favorite novels in contemporary Serbian literature. While the book hasn't been published in English yet (and I hope this changes soon), some excerpts have appeared in translation (e.g. in New England Review).

Goran Petrovic's new short story collection Unutrašnje dvorište is highly anticipated later this year. The title story is available in Serbian, via literary magazine Polja, and the English translation can be found in Best European Fiction 2018. 

Story Is The Thing

I was honored to participate in Story Is The Thing, a quarterly reading series at Kepler's Books. In a vibrant, dynamic format, this event presents seven Bay Area authors, from emerging voices to established masters.

The theme of the February 22 event was "Everything", inspired by an excerpt from Arundhati Roy's novel "The Ministry of Utmost Happiness."

“How to tell a shattered story? By slowly becoming everybody. No. By slowly becoming everything.”

The evening was opened by Sumbul Ali-Karamali, who talked about personal stories that led to her book "Muslim Next Door", an engaging, accessible introduction to Islam.

Vanessa Hua followed with a reading from her riveting collection "Deceit and Other Possibilities", based on her immigrant family heritage.

I read the opening of my recently published short story "The Addition", drawn from my memories of Bosnian refugees in Serbia, in the 1990s.

Kate Petersen talked about finding inspiration in teaching at Stanford, about surprising gems that emerged from discussions on her students' problem sets.

Anne Raeff's new novel "Winter Kept Us Warm" brought back the theme of family heritage, from post-war Berlin to contemporary Morocco.

Kaitlin Solimine introduced the theme of inherited manuscripts, with an excerpt from her novel "Empire of Glass". The novel is narrated in an experimental format of the original Chinese manuscript, interwoven with footnotes from the translator. Vanessa Hua added a dimension to this inventive presentation by reading notes from the translator.

Alia Volz followed with her latest essay, also based on an inherited manuscript - a fascinating ghost story.

The evening was closed by the host Aggie Zivaljevic, who reminded us of Muriel Rukeyser's quote:

"The universe is made of stories, not of atoms."

Reading at Kepler's Books in Menlo Park