THE 50TH ANDRIĆ AWARD PRESENTED TO DEJAN ALEKSIĆ

BELGRADE, OCTOBER 9 /SRNA/ – The 50th Andrić Award was presented in Belgrade today to writer Dejan Aleksić for the best collection of short stories published last year, Homunculus and Other Stories About Loneliness, published by the publishing house “Imam ideju” from Kraljevo.

The award ceremony took place at the Ivo Andrić Endowment. The decision to select the winner was made unanimously by jury president Branko Vraneš and members Mina Đurić and Marko Avramović at their final meeting on September 29.

Avramović said that Aleksić was one of the most significant Serbian writers of the younger generation. In his book, Aleksić brings together eight short stories into a cohesive whole by carrying motifs and characters from one story into another, with the loneliness of contemporary society as the strongest connection.

“Homunculus and Other Stories About Loneliness is an exceptionally relevant book. It is a book about us, about all of us who, while talking about empathy and closeness, mindlessly scroll through our mobile phone screens,” Avramović stated.

The award was presented by academician Zlata Bojović, chairwoman of the Board of Directors of the Ivo Andrić Endowment. She noted that the distinction is traditionally presented on the eve of the birthday of Ivo Andrić, the Serbian Nobel laureate.

She also recalled that this year marks 100 years since Andrić received his first literary award from the Ljubomir Mihajlović Fund for literary works published in Cyrillic alphabet.

In his address, laureate Dejan Aleksić said that the loneliness experienced by the characters in his book was not simply loneliness in itself, but a chosen state of social isolation in which they seek and find refuge in the illusions and delusions of an alluring world.

He stressed that this was not about escaping from the world, but about settling accounts with it through a process of self-discovery, in which such loneliness does precisely what literature itself does - confronts and purifies.

“I am therefore pleased that this has been recognized in the assessment of these stories, and I am grateful for the honour of receiving this exceptional distinction named after one of the most authentic voices in the history of our own and world literature,” Aleksić said.

In accordance with Ivo Andrić’s testamentary wishes, the Ivo Andrić Endowment has presented the Andrić Award since 1976 for the best short story, short-story cycle or collection of short stories published in Serbian during the preceding year.