Goran Simić

Who is Goran Simić?

Goran Simic, a Bosnian poet, is recognized internationally for his works of poetry, essays, short stories and theatre.

Goran Simić was born in Vlasenica, Bosnia in 1952 and has written eleven volumes of poetry, drama and short fiction, including Sprinting from the Graveyard, ; his work has been translated into nine languages and has been published and performed in several European countries. One of the most prominent writers of the former Yugoslavia, Simic was trapped in the siege of Sarajevo. In 1995 he and his family were able to settle in Canada as the result of a Freedom to Write Award from PEN. Immigrant Blues was Simic's second full-length volume of poems in English, and the first to be published in Canada. This was followed by two books published in 2005: a poetry collection, From Sarajevo, With Sorrow -- which involves a retranslation of the earlier, bowdlerized versions found in David Harsent's Sprinting from the Graveyard; and Yesterday's People, a collection of short fiction, which was shortlisted for both the Relit Award and the Danuta Gleed Award for best first collection of short fiction. A Selected Poems is tentatively scheduled to be published in the Fall of 2007.