Zlatko Topčić

Early life and family

Topčić was born to a Bosniak family in Sarajevo on 30 April 1955. His father, Zaim Topčić (1920–1990), was also a writer. His mother is a member of the Selimić family, her grandfather was Zaim Bey Selimić, who was the owner of the Kravice waterfalls. He graduated from Law School of the University of Sarajevo.

He initially wrote crime novels and short stories, whose circulation reached one hundred thousand copies, under the pseudonym Gold Taucher, which were published in the region when he was 17 years old, and which have sold over ten million copies.

Career

Zlatko Topčić was a founder, chief editor of the newspaper Slovo and producer of the panorama of the Bosnian war stories in English Forgotten Country (1997) and an anthology of members of Association of Writers of Bosnia and Herzegovina The Best Of (2000). He is one of the founders of Association of Writers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and from 1993 to 2001 the first General Secretary. From 2001 to 2011 he was director and artistic director of the Chamber Theatre 55, which is statistically the most successful period in the history of theater.

During that period, Chamber Theatre 55 was the most successful theater in Bosnia and Herzegovina and one of the most successful in the region, and with their performances, he has appeared in many theaters around the world. He was a selector of the International Theatre Festival MESS in 2012 and a member of several juries, among others, in 2013 and 2014 for the Award BZK "Preporod" for best play. From 2013 to 2016 he was general director of TVSA. In 2016 he comes to the position of director of the Library of Sarajevo. He is a member of the Commission for free Artists of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He is president of the Arts Council of the Sarajevo National Theatre since 2015.

He has published collections of stories: The Vital Question (1981), Fantastic Stories (1989), Ptica iz drugog jata/A Bird From Another Flock (bilingual edition) (1995), Bogomil Legends (1997) and Selected Stories (2000). He has published such novels as A Man From Nowhere (1986), Kulin (1994), Nightmare (1997, 1998, 2000, 2003), Bare Skin (2004), Safet Sušić, Final Word (2011), Dagmar (2013) and dramas: Collapse (1988), Plays (1995), Refugees (1999), Time Out (2001), Eight Pieces (2005), Krokodil Lacoste/Silvertown (bilingual edition; 2016) and Angry People (2016).

His collection of stories, The Vital Question (1981), and novel, A Man From Nowhere (1986), received excellent reviews from literary critics and readers. Story Love Letter from his first book represented in post-war Bosnian Anthology of short stories, translated into English. In Bosnian theaters have played his dramas: Collapse (1986), Musa and The Goat (1993), Kulin Ban (1995), Refugees (1999), Plaza Hotel (2000), Head-On (2004), Pardon Asks Radivoje, Radivoje's Son (2006), Happy New 1994! (2006), I Do Not Like Mondays (2009; directed by Christian Papke) and the Krokodil Lacoste / Silvertown (2011).

His drama Time Out (directed by James P. Mirrione) had a premiere on English language and the English production in the Great Britain (Bretton Hall - Powerhouse 1; Leeds - West Yorkshire Playhouse, Royal Armouries Museum; London - Gate Theatre, Riverside Studios; Wakefield, 2002) and became the first Bosnian drama performed in the Great Britain, and had a Britain tour. Radio Sarajevo aired several of his radio drama: Happy New Year's Eve (1977), Interview (1978), Emergency Situation (1987), To Walk On Tiptoe (1988), Cesare Lombroso (1989), Kulin (1990), Lister's Machine (1991), Musa And The Goat (1992) and Stanislavski Would Be Satisfied (2007). Three times he won the anonymous competitions of Radio Sarajevo (1978, 1987 and 2007) with dramas Interview, Emergency Situation and Stanislavski Would Be Satisfied. He has produced over forty plays, and some of the most famous are cult hit play Frog and Helver's Night, the most awarded play in the history of the Chamber Theatre 55.

His works have been translated into English, German, French, Turkish, Czech, Polish, Bulgarian, Italian, Macedonian, Swedish and Slovenian. He is the founder of the "Bosnian tomb" Award. He wrote screenplays for four documentary films: I Respond To You, God, Blood And Musk, Miracle in Bosnia, and The Best Years Ever.

His stories and dramas have been included in several domestic and international anthologies. He wrote the screenplays for such feature films as Remake (2003; directed by Dino Mustafić), which is the first post-war Bosnian feature film and The Abandoned (2010; directed by Adis Bakrač). He won first prize at an anonymous competition for original screenplay Association of Filmmakers of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the scenario Remake (1999).

The script for the film Remake was awarded at the competition of the Ministry of Culture and Sport. He won the first prize at an anonymous competition for the Bosnia and Herzegovina Ministry of culture and sport for drama Time Out (2000). His screenplay for the film The Abandoned (working title: Bare Skin) was one of six winning scenarios (91 entries from all over the region) at the ex-YU competition of the first edition of CineLink, which was held as part of the 9th Sarajevo Film Festival (2003).

He won the most important literary prize in Bosnia and Herzegovina, prestigious Annual Award of Association of Writers of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the best book published in 1997 for his novel Nightmare, which was translated into Turkish (Saray Bosna da kabus, Gendas, Istanbul, 1998) and Slovenian (Mora, Založba Goga, Novo Mesto, 2003) and for the best book published in 2013 for the novel Dagmar, which is translated into Czech (Dagmar, Prague, 2016). He won the prestigious PEN Austrian Center Award for I Do Not Like Mondays (2009). He is a laureate of the "Hasan Kaimija Award" and "Skender Kulenović Award for the best book published in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2011-12 for Final Word, which was translated into French (M.E.O. Edition, Le mot de la fin, Brussels, 2016). He was awarded the "Fra Grgo Martić Award" for best book of fiction in 2013 for Dagmar.

Topčić is a member of the Association of Writers of Bosnia and Herzegovina and PEN Center of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He played in the junior team FK Sarajevo, where he was offered a professional contract.

Personal life

Topčić spent the entirety of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo. His father Zaim Topčić (1920–1990) was trapped in the Jasenovac concentration camp in 1943. He is the author of important historical novel, Country of Heretics.

He lives in Sarajevo with wife Amela and son Kerim.

Filmography

Theater plays

Radio dramas

Awards