Where were you born, and where did you grow up?
I was born in Zenica.* I grew up there, inside a triangle consisting of a steelworks, a mine and a prison.
*[Bosnia and Herzegovina. ed.]
What sorts of books were in your family home?
We did not have a big library, my father preferred machines to books. But there were several nice books – among them the children’s book, Timur and his Squad, by Arkady Gaidar. I was so obsessed with the book that I named my son Timur years later. I read it again recently and it’s not as good as I thought in my childhood. Close to our house was a city library where I went almost every day. My neighbour was an actor, the first to play Hamlet in my town. He once interrupted me on my return from the library and advised me not to read randomly, but to choose a writer, read everything s/he wrote and then move on to another. That advice seemed crazy even then. I mostly avoided this neighbour afterwards.
Continue reading Interview | Selvedin Avdić | Author of the Week
