Five works entered the final for the prestigious Nino Novel of the Year Award for 2019, and the winner will be announced on Monday, January 20.
In the closest competition for the award are the novels "Mulat albino komarac" by Stevo Grabovac (Imprimatur), "Grosota ili..." by Slobodan Tišma (Magic book), "Yugoslav" by Ana Vučković (Partisan book), "Po šumama i goram" by Milenko Bodirogić (Orfelin ) and "Dog and double bass" by Saša Ilić (Orfelin), NIN announced.
On Monday, around noon, the jury will announce the name of the 66th winner of the Nino Award. The press conference will be held in the "Moskva" hotel, Balkanska hall on the 1st floor.
The jury, made up of Marija Nenezić, Branko Kukić, Ivan Milenković, Marjan Čakarević and Teofil Pančić (president), chose five novels from the ten shortlisted titles.
The title of the novel "Po šumema i gorama" by Milenko Bodirogić is taken from the first verse of a well-known partisan song, in which two men literally walk through the forests and mountains and without pathos search for the land that is called "Ours" in the said song, Belgrade media reported.
Ana Vučković's novel "Yugoslav" is famous for its elegiac poem about the time the heroine spent with her father, and that time and their personal relationship are inextricably linked with - later dismembered - Yugoslavia.
Stevo Grabovac in the book "Mulatto Albino Mosquito" gives testimony about a lost generation, a war apocalypse, after which comes peace that brings life without hope in today's dystopian society. Saša Ilić's "The Dog and the Double Bass" is famous for being a story about a charismatic character - a man who lived a stormy life in a stormy time, opening up the theme of interweaving intimacy with the spirit of the times.
There were 201 novels in the competition.
This prestigious recognition has been awarded since 1954, and the first winner was Dobrica Ćosić for the novel "Roots".
Oskar Davičo was the only three-time laureate, while Dobrica Ćosić, Živojin Pavlović and Dragan Velikić won twice. Davičo was also the only laureate of the Nino Award for two consecutive years - in 1963 and 1964.
The sponsors of NIN's award are "Sberbank", hotel "Moskva", as well as one domestic and one foreign company that wanted to remain anonymous in order to keep the laureate and the distinguished recognition in the foreground.
Bonus video:
