Goran Simic, a Bosnia

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...

n poet, is recognized internationally for his works of poetry, essays, short stories and theatre.

Goran Simić was born in Vlasenica

Vlasenica

Vlasenica is a municipality and town of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Administratively it is part of Vlasenica Region.-1912:...

, Bosnia in 1952 and has written eleven volumes of poetry, drama and short fiction, including Sprinting from the Graveyard (Oxford, 1997), ; 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

Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....

, Simic was trapped in the siege of Sarajevo

Siege of Sarajevo

The Siege of Sarajevo is the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare. Serb forces of the Republika Srpska and the Yugoslav People's Army besieged Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, from 5 April 1992 to 29 February 1996 during the Bosnian War.After Bosnia...

. In 1995 he and his family were able to settle in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 as the result of a Freedom to Write Award from PEN

International PEN

PEN International , the worldwide association of writers, was founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere....

. 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

David Harsent

David Harsent is an English poet & TV scriptwriter. As Jack Curtis and David Lawrence he has published a number of crime fiction novels....

'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. (both published by Biblioasis.) A Selected Poems is tentatively scheduled to be published in the Fall of 2007.

In 2006, Simić founded Luna Publications

Luna Publications

Luna Publications is a literary publishing company located in Toronto, CA. It was founded in 2006 by Goran Simic. Simic is recognized in Europe and the US for his works of poetry, essays, short stories and theatre....

 in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, Canada. Simic joined the Faculty of Arts and Sciences of The University of Guelph

University of Guelph

The University of Guelph, also known as U of G, is a comprehensive public research university in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1964 after the amalgamation of Ontario Agricultural College, the Macdonald Institute, and the Ontario Veterinary College...

in September 2006.