TRAILS OF ĆOPIĆ'S CHILDHOOD HELD IN HAŠANI

KRUPA NA UNI, 12 OCTOBER /SRNA/ – Branko Ćopić never revised his pages; everything he wrote was in its original form, leaving through his outstanding literary works an invaluable legacy to the world, poet Zoran Kostić said in Hašani, where the literary event "Trails of Ćopić's Childhood" was held today.

"Everything Branko did, he turned into gold," Kostić emphasized in Ćopić’s birthplace.

Mirjana Stojisavljević, the head of the Branko Ćopić Foundation based in Banja Luka, said that this year marks 111 years since Ćopić’s birth, 42 years since his death, and 30 years since Republika Srpska began organising this event.

"This year is particularly significant for the Foundation because, as a gift to the Serb people and this great literary figure, we are presenting the The Hedgehog's House Hašani Theatre, in Hašani, opposite the house of Ćopić's uncle Jandrija, which will host schoolchildren, poets and benefactors this year,” Stojisavljević said.

Theatre director Andrej Drljača said that Ježeva kućica is very important because there is no comparable theatre institution in the broader area.

Drljača added that plans are underway to launch a children’s festival in memory of Branko Ćopić.

This year, the Blagodarje Award, presented by the Branko Ćopić Foundation, was awarded to Sunčica Marković from Novi Sad, the author of an exhibition about the writer, whose exhibition will become a permanent display at the Ježeva kućica Theatre in Hašani.

She explained that the life and work of the great writer are presented through photographs, illustrations, aphorisms and documents.

"The award confirms that the multi-year project carried out by the Novi Sad Cultural Centre in cooperation with Matica Srpska has achieved its goal. It is the project of 2022 about migrations and the colonization of Vojvodina in the 20th century," Marković said.

Miroslav Radaković, acting deputy mayor of the municipality of Krupa na Uni, expressed hope that the event would be commemorated in the future in a manner worthy of a world-renowned writer such as Ćopić.

The awards for the best literary work were presented to Marina Kelečević and Mateja Majstorović, pupils of the Branko Ćopić Primary School in Banja Luka.

Poets Zoran Kostić, Zoran Starčević, Božidar Bjelica Japan, Slobodan Vrhovac, Ivica Vanja Rorić and Miloš Štrkić recited their verses.

At the beginning of the Trails of Ćopić’s Childhood event this morning, flowers were laid at Ćopić's bust near the Branko Ćopić Memorial School. Following the programme, a traditional celebratory lunch was held for the guests to mark the Ćopić family's patron saint's day, Cyriacus the Anchorite /Miholjdan/.

Branko Ćopić was born on 1 January 1915 in Hašani. On 26 March 1984, he died by suicide after jumping from a bridge over the Sava River in Belgrade.

He received his first literary award in 1938 from the Academy of Seven Arts for a short story. In 1939, he received the Rakić Award, followed by an award from the Serbian Royal Academy in 1940.

His celebrated short-story collection Bašta sljezove boje /The Garden of Mallow-Coloured Blossoms/ won the Njegoš Award in 1972, while he received the NIN Award for Best Novel in 1958 for Ne tuguj, bronzana stražo /Do Not Grieve, Bronze Guard/.

He was a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts from 1968.