Pjesme iz UNICEF-sveske
Emina Kovačević (b. 1995, Jablanica, raised in Mostar) debuted with the collection Poems from a UNICEF Notebook. The title alludes to the blue UNICEF notebook from her childhood – a symbol of humanitarian aid, the post-war period, and her first writing.
The poems are lyrical fragments of post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina, seen through the eyes of a child who grew up in ruins, mines, trauma and reconstruction. Kovačević fights against war, loss and trauma with original poetic humor – lucid, mockingly witty, sometimes childishly naive, but deeply mature. The poems are short, readable, memorable, without bitterness and despair; they captivate with lightness, irony and subtle sadness. Her role model is Branko Ćopić – that childish, folk, satirical approach to serious topics.
The collection builds a portrait of a child/woman who uses lucidity and humor as a weapon against pain: from the first letter in a UNICEF notebook to the perfect circle of life in the post-war period. Critics emphasize the fascinating lightness, originality and power of humor that heals. The book is an important voice of the young generation that experienced the war as childhood – not pathetic, but humorous and healing.
One copy is available