Press Release on the completion of the Third Biber Contest
The Third Biber Short Story Contest, with authors writing in Albanian, Macedonian, Serbian, Bosnian, Croatian and Montenegrin, has been completed.
The jury, consisting of Rumena Bužarovska, Lejla Kalamujić and Shkelzen Maliqi, has selected the prize-winning stories and those that will be published in the collection.
The jury’s decision can be found below.
The Biber Contest was open from January to June this year. A total of 464 stories were submitted. The Contest included stories about reconciliation in the context of the legacy of the wars and violence in the countries of former Yugoslavia, as well as stories contributing to better understanding among people, reducing hatred and dismantling prejudice, anti-war stories, stories about dealing with the past, deconstructing images of the enemy, empathy, brave stories that dare walk in the ‘enemy’s’ shoes, stories that push boundaries and open up the way to build a more stable, safer and freer future for all.
We would like to thank all the authors who participated in the contest, as well as the jury who made the final decisions.
The short stories will be published in a multilingual collection by March 2020. We are already planning and preparing the next contest, Biber04, which will be opened in early 2021.
We would like to congratulate the prize-winning authors and all those whose short stories have been selected for publication in the collection.
Biber Team
Ana Bitoljanu
Davorka Turk
Ivana Franović
Katarina Milićević
Qerim Ondozi
Biber 03 Jury Statement
The jury for the Third Regional Biber Short Story Contest, comprising Rumena Bužarovska, a writer from Skopje, Shkelzen Maliqi, a writer from Pristina, and Lejla Kalamujić, a writer from Sarajevo, had the task of reading 121 stories that has passed the pre-selection. The jury decided unanimously to award the following stories:
- Third prize: Mačetom ćeš me, mačetom ću te [Machete You Me, Machete Me You], by Tamara Kovačević from Ljubljana;
- Second prize: Lito [Summer], by Ante Storić from Šibenik;
- First prize: Glava [Head], by Monika Herceg from Petrinja.
The prize-winning stories feature effective narrative structures, sophisticated style and precise language. Each of them is profoundly emotional and treats its topic with a high degree of understanding and empathy, but without shying away from criticism.
In addition to the prize-winning stories, the Biber 03 Collection will also feature the stories submitted by the following authors: Abid Jarić, Afrim Demiri, Aida Šečić Nezirević, Aneta Petruševska, Besa Kalaja, Bojan Todorović, Bojana Babić Dimitrije Bukvić, Dragana Ranđelović, Ernad Osmić, Gabrijel Delić, Gordana Stojanoska, Imer Topanica, Isidora Petrović, Luiza Bouharaoua, Manja Veličkovska, Mario Merdžan, Milana Gajović, Nikola Petrović, Slađana Nina Perković, Stefan Slavković, and Tihana Gambiraža.
These are diverse short prose forms where we find: intimate accounts of the wars in the former Yugoslavia, being a refugee, dealing with trauma, examinations of evil in people, but also the good, encounters with refugees in the 21st century, all the way up to dystopian visions. Whether they come from the personal and mundane or the general and historical context, all the stories deeply contemplate the world and social relations and express empathy towards human suffering and misfortune.
The jury is pleased that once again Biber has brought together established literary authors and those just starting out.
We would like to thank all the participants in the contest and wish them success in their future endeavours.
Rumena Bužarovska
Shkelzen Maliqi
Lejla Kalamujić