PETAR KOČIĆ - WRITER AND TRIBUNE

BIJELJINA, AUGUST 26 /SRNA/ - The great Serbian writer, poet, and national tribune Petar Kočić /1877-1916/ died on August 27, 1916.

Kočić was born in the village of Stričići near Banjaluka. He attended elementary school at the Gomionica Monastery, where his father had taken monastic vows and lived as abbot.

He enrolled in high school in Sarajevo but was expelled by the authorities for "Serbian nationalist activities," after which he continued his education in Belgrade.

Kočić studied philosophy in Vienna and later worked as a clerk in Sarajevo, but was again expelled for participating in a workers' strike.

He became one of the most prominent authors of Serbian realism and a national activist against the Austro-Hungarian occupation of BiH.

After returning from his Slavic studies in Vienna and serving in Serbia and Skopje, Kočić spent long periods unemployed, and he was convicted and imprisoned in Banjaluka and Tuzla.

He could not tolerate occupation and social injustice and openly advocated for Serbian national interests.

In Banjaluka, Kočić launched the newspaper Otadžbina, which was frequently banned. With concise storytelling and a vivid poetic language, he powerfully depicted the mountain homeland, peasant life, and the destiny of the people, while in his satires he sharply criticized the conditions under Austro-Hungarian rule.

In addition to The Badger Before the Court, Kočić's major works include Poems, the short story collections From the Mountain and Below the Mountain, and Cries from Zmijanje. Another significant satire is Sudanija.

Beyond his writing, Petar Kočić remained inseparably linked with the Serbian Krajina peasant, to whom he showed both love and understanding. He was a fighter not only against the occupier but also against economic enslavement.

In honor of this giant of Serbian literature, Republika Srpska annually awards the Kočić's Pen and Kočić's Book prizes, and each August holds the cultural manifestation Kočić's Assembly.