Completed in 2021, this study surveys literature by authors from Bosnia and Herzegovina translated into European languages between 2015 and 2020. Its 260 bibliographic records were assembled from COBISS, WorldCat, VIAF, national-library catalogues, publishers’ catalogues, interviews and direct examination of available books.
Poetry and short stories are strongly represented, alongside novels and autobiographical writing shaped by war, displacement and migration. Established figures such as Ivo Andrić remain highly visible, while Miljenko Jergović, Dževad Karahasan, Faruk Šehić, Aleksandar Hemon and other contemporary or diasporic authors contribute to the literature’s European presence.
The study finds that Bosnia and Herzegovina has no unified register of translated works, authors or translators. Its complex institutional structure, limited cultural funding and absence of a coordinated translation policy leave publishers and translators dependent on intermittent grants, international programmes and individual initiative.
The authors recommend a state-level strategy with stable financing; interconnected databases of writers, translators, publishers and translated works; closer links with foreign publishers; better preservation of translated editions in the National and University Library; stronger recognition and autonomy for translators; and a sustained policy prioritizing the translation and promotion of domestic authors.
Authors and research team: Alma Mešić and Muamera Smajić; developed within a joint research and methodology team that included Vladimir Vojinović, Dragana Marković, Sanja Vojinović, Barbara Simović and Miloš Milačić.
Original Bosnian title: Bosanskohercegovački književnici u prijevodima na evropske jezike – studija: Bibliografija, analize i preporuke o književnim djelima Bosne i Hercegovine u prijevodu na evropske jezike u periodu od 2015. do 2020. godine
