ŽELJKO GRUJIĆ - A MAN OF STRONG WORDS

PALE, SEPTEMBER 2 /SRNA/ - Željko Grujić, a poet, essayist, literary critic and journalist, died in Pale on September 3, 2022, at the age of 61.

Željko Grujić was born in Sarajevo in 1961. He worked as a journalist for SRNA from the beginning of the war and served as its editor-in-chief from 1994 to 1997.

In early 2000, Grujić left journalism, and in 2004 he resumed his professional career at the Pale National Library, where he established the Local History Department, one of the best in Republika Srpska.

Grujić was a member of the Association of Writers of Republika Srpska.

He published the poetry collections "Sonnets of Condolence," "Roses of Jericho," and "Shame and Moonlight," as well as the collection of journalistic writings "Cross-Bearers and Sisyphus Men" and the collection of essays "Homeland and Patricides".

Grujić's final book, "A Weak Word Killed Me," was published by the Istočno Sarajevo Main Library.

The Pale National Library posthumously published Grujić's books "A Century and a Half of Serbian Political Masochism" and "Life in a Footnote".

At the Sarajevo Poetry Days in 2001, Grujić received the Poet – Witness of the Times Award for his poetry collection "Roses of Jericho," which was also named the best poetry book published in Republika Srpska in 2000.

At the 2018 Vidovdan Poetry Gatherings in Sokolac, Grujić received the Vidovdan Charter Award for his poetry collection "Shame and Moonlight".

Grujić said at the time that the award was of particular significance to him because its name encompassed everything that defines our character and being, giving it a sense of completeness.

In memory of this writer, the Days of Željko Grujić cultural event is held every year in early September in Pale, organised by the Pale National Library and the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Istočno Sarajevo