Introductory speeches were given by Professor Viktor Dundovi\u0107<\/strong> from the Bugojno Gymnasium and the Mayor of Bugojno Hasan Ajkuni\u0107.<\/strong><\/p>\n Davorka Turk, a member of the Biber Team, explained what the Biber Contest was about and why it was launched and said that the basic idea behind it was to introduce stories from our neighbours that we knew little about.<\/p>\n The discussion touched upon what made the individual authors decide to enter their stories in the contest. \u201cI\u2019ve been following the Biber Contest since the beginning, and I knew I had a story I wanted to tell, so this time I entered. My story is about the plight of children in war, because I was a child myself during the war in Vitez,\u201d said Irena Skopljak Bari\u0107.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a child of the 1990s, the generation that did not experience the war. I wrote about the position of a woman seeing her son off to war, an unnamed war,\u201d said Aleksandra Jovanovi\u0107 from Vranj. Senad Jusi\u0107 added, \u201cI liked the idea behind the contest, because I am a veteran of the war. As the criminals are released from prison, often early because of good behaviour, they are lifted onto pedestals.\u00a0 I wanted to write about a criminal from a different angle.\u201d<\/p>\n The panellists also talked about how literature can influence social change. Senad spoke about not being an optimist in thinking that literature can change society, because society changes faster than literature, but literature can help us be just a bit better people. He added that all those who call for war and sacrifice are, thank goodness, alive and well, and quoted Marko Ve\u0161ovi\u0107: \u201cNo war has ever made a single mother smile.\u201d<\/p>\n Marijana \u010canak said, \u201cLife and literature are inseparable. Wherever we exist as human beings, literature too will exist, either as oral literature, passed from generation to generation, etched in stone or in a collection such as this one. I believe the role of the writer is to tell the story and keep society vigilant. I think literature has an invaluable power, it\u2019s just a matter of how we use it.\u201d Aleksandra Jovanovi\u0107 added that literature, like art, is necessarily engaged in and of itself.<\/p>\n Ivor Fuka asked Aleksandra Jovanovi\u0107, as a representative of the younger generation, about how much of the trauma of older generations has been passed on to her generation, to which she replied,\u00a0 \u201cA lot. Of the trauma and everything else. But we don\u2019t have such divisions, except those of us still poisoned. More and more, young people are wiping out such borders.\u201d Talking about our society, she said, \u201cWe watch movies and cry for the Jews who perished in Auschwitz, we cry for the African slaves, but we choose to stay silent and not cry when it comes to our neighbours.\u201d<\/p>\n Davorka Turk said that these stories provide motivation to those already working on reconciliation. \u201cPeople tend to cling to their national identity when they feel it is under threat. I cannot ask anyone else to forgive, everyone must come to that decision for themselves, but what we are trying to achieve is a way to reach justice without having anyone else suffer injustice,\u201d Davorka pointed out.<\/p>\n The discussion was organised by\u00a0 the Bugojno Cultural and Sports Centre (KSC), the Bugojno Gymnasium and the Centre for Nonviolent Action Sarajevo-Belgrade.<\/p>\n This was the first promotion of the Collection in BiH, following its promotions in Podgorica and Novi Sad.<\/p>\n Biber is a short story contest for engaged stories in Albanian, Macedonian, Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian and Montenegrin. The theme of the contest is reconciliation in the context of the aftermath of the wars and violence in the countries of former Yugoslavia, but also eligible are stories that can contribute to better understanding among people, reducing hatred and dismantling prejudice, anti-war stories, stories about dealing with the past, deconstructing images of the enemy, about empathy, brave stories that dare walk in the \u201cenemy\u2019s\u201d shoes, stories that push boundaries and open up the way to build a more stable, safer and freer future for all.<\/p>\n The contest is organised by the Biber team of the Centre for Nonviolent Action Sarajevo-Belgrade.<\/a><\/p>\n The fourth Biber Contest was opened in late April 2020. There were around 750 entries. The jury was made up of:\u00a0 Tatjana Groma\u010da, Anton Berishaj and Selvedin Avdi\u0107.<\/strong><\/p>\n The launch of the 5th Biber Short Story Contest<\/strong> on the same topic has been announced for Human Rights Day, 10 December 2021<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The Biber 04<\/em><\/a> collection, as well as all the previous collections are available in PDF and Kindle format on the Biber<\/em><\/a> website.<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/nenasilje.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/20211109_TMR_CNA_2586-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n