Darko Tuševljakovic for the novel "Carrot" published by "Laguna", he won the Nino Award for the best novel of the year published in 2025 in the Serbian language, it was announced today by the Kolarac Foundation.
The decision on the winner was made by a jury consisting of: Alexander Jerkov (president), Adrijana Marcetic, Jelena Mladenovic, Vladimir Gvozden i Mladen Veskovic.
The winner of the Nino Tuševljaković Award, said that the book took a relatively long time to write and that it contains autobiographical elements.
"It wasn't easy for me to write it. I think that after writing it, two emotions mixed up, and it's a certain relief that the story came out of me, so I'm satisfied with it, but on the other hand, I felt very tired," he said.
A writer Jovica Acin, in his review of the novel, states that "Carrot" captivates in all its ingredients, in the storytelling skill, plot development, plot and characters, as well as in the descriptions and themes of evil and good in ourselves and others.
"Childhood memories awaited him in ambush. Davor's childhood smelled of the Adriatic Sea, of oleanders, but also of burning. In sun-drenched Zadar, a group of thirteen-year-olds, unaware of the looming shadows of war, were rarely disturbed by serious worries in their carefree play and everyday boyish troubles. Until suddenly everything changed...", the description states. Many years later, it is added, Davor's new life in Belgrade is marked by vague memories of former friends, along with various unspoken questions simmering beneath the surface, and he will seek answers to them when he sets off for Zadar with his girlfriend Nina, to face his past.
"There, Davor will discover truths about himself and others, memories will take on new meanings when unexpected doubts and judgments arise. From encounter to encounter, Davor's story becomes the story of five boys whose lives have been overshadowed by events and relationships that some of them are still unable to forgive to this day. To themselves or to others," it writes...
The editorial office of the weekly NIN received 195 entries for the 72nd Nin Award for Novel of the Year. The jury made a unanimous decision on the winning novel, confident that all readers would enjoy it.
Yerkov pointed out that he "cannot reveal the mystery" and asked for careful reading.
"This mystery is important. However, the same sphinxes always appear in it, so from Oedipus to the present day we are faced with two different problems - with a Nietzschean image and with a kind of Oedipal, psychoanalytic analysis, which has serious and far-reaching consequences. Not all mysteries are solved in the novel, and it remains for each of you to still think about whether the answer is here, whether it is there, or perhaps it means something else. And that is good for literature, and that is good for this book. And I congratulate the author once again on his new success," said Jerkov.
Six novels were in the final of the prestigious literary award in Serbia, including "Conversations with a Witch" Vladimir Vujović from Bar, published by "Sumatra", as well as: "Ballad about a murderer and a murderer and a murderer" Dalibor Pejić (Geopoetics), "Mrs. Beta" Laura Barne (HERAedu), "The Immortal Follies of Mrs. Kubat" Milan Tripković (Academic Book, Novi Sad) and "St. Bartholomew's Abbey" Miloš Perišić (No rules publishing).
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