Enes Topalovic

ENES TOPALOVIC is a writer who likes to say of himself that he was born in 2003 – when his first novel was published.

Topalovic was actually born in 1963 in the village of Bare, in Gorazde Municipality. He received his degree in Language and Literature from the Pedagogy Academy in Sarajevo and also studied in Norway. He is a member of the Society of Writers of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), the Society of Writers of Norway (Forfatterforening), and the Norwegian Writer’s Centre (Forfattersentrum), as well as the Society of Writers and Translators of Scandinavia. He currently lives and works as a teacher in the Norwegian city of Bergen.

Topalovic has been the recipient of numerous literary accolades, including the 2006 Srebrenica award for his story‚ Mrtva trka (Dead Race), the 2006 Zija Dizdarevic award for his story Smijeh u sebi, and the 2008 ICC Behar (USA) award for his story Hafiz. His novel, Na kraju svega, was chosen from among 106 entries to the VBZ contest in 2009 as one of the five best unpublished novels from the territory of the former Yugoslavia. In 2021 Topalovic’s novel, Sjeme u ocima, was named one of the five best entries in contention for that year’s Hasan Kaimija award. In 2022, Topalovic received the Isnam Taljic award for his story, Crno i bijelo odijelo.

Publication of his last two novels, Ime i dusa and 99 UMIRANJA, as well as the collection of stories, PRECI i POTOMCI, was supported by the BiH Foundation for Publishing.

Sjeme u ocima has been translated into Turkish, and Ime i dusa is being translated into Arabic and English. Some of Topalovic’s short stories are also being translated into these languages.

Published works:

• Let kroz snove, a novel, Bosnia ars, Tuzla, 2003.
• Sapat predaka, a collection of stories, Graforad, Zenica, 2004.
• Mrtva trka, a collection of stories, Bosanska rijec, Tuzla, 2007.
• Govor iz besike, a collection of poems, Dhira Verlag, Erlenbach ZH Schweiz, 2009.
• Bankingen fra graven (Kucanje iz kabura), a selection of stories, translated into Norwegian, Commentum forlag, Norway, 2011.
• AMANet MREZA, a novel, TDK Sahinpasic Sarajevo, 2011.
• Na kraju svega, a novel, VBZ Zagreb, 2011.
• Preko granice, a novel, TDK Sahinpasic Sarajevo, 2014
• Sjeme u ocima, a novel, Lijepa rijec Tuzla, 2020
• Ime i dusa, a novel, Planjax Tesanj, 2021
• 99 UMIRANJA, a novel, Lijepa rijec Tuzla 2022
• PRECI i POTOMCI, a collection of stories, Planjax Tesanj, 2023

Literary co-production:
• Pod istim nebom, a book of poetry, co-author, Dhira Verlag, Erlenbach ZH Schweiz, 2008.
• Price, a collection of stories by writers of the BiH diaspora, Brisel, Gratiartis, 2010.
• Vrijeme pricom otkljucano, a collection of stories by 29 writers from Bosnia and Herzegovina. diaspora, Brisel, Gratiartis, 2011.

blue butterflies    remembrance    war scars