Thursday, 18 December at 7 p.m.
Writers' Jam / Literary Meetings on the Mezzanine
Host: KARMELA ŠPOLJARIĆ
At the age of fifteen, Ivica Đikić ran to the front line; just before turning eighteen, he secured a permanent job as a journalist; at twenty-six, he published his first, award-winning novel; and before the age of forty, he wrote the screenplay for a television series broadcast on Netflix and HBO. In between came Feral, Novi list, Novosti, new novels, short stories, poems, and works of non-fiction. At the third Writers' Jam panel on the KIC mezzanine, we will find out which period of his career he considers the most rewarding, which less so, and what he has in store for the future.
Ivica Đikić was born in 1977 in Tomislavgrad, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He lives in Zagreb. He is a political commentator for the weekly Novosti. He has previously written for Slobodna Dalmacija, Feral Tribune and Novi list. He was the editor-in-chief of Novi List and Novosti. He has published the novels Cirkus Columbia (2003), I Dreamed of Elephants (2011), Repetition (2014), Beara (2016, 2024) - a documentary novel about the Srebrenica genocide, Apparition (2018) and Wild Yeast (2024). He is the author of the short story collections Marshmallow Colored Nothing (2007) and Talking Sticks (2020), and the poetry collection The Rest of the World (2012). He has also published the non-fiction books Patriotic turnaround – A Political Biography of Stipe Mesić (2004); Gotovina, Reality and Myth (2010), co-authored with Davor Krilo and Boris Pavelić; Šarik Tara: A Life (2013) and Budimir Lončar: Before and After the End. He is the winner of the Meša Selimović Award, the tportal Award for Novel of the Year, the Kočić's Pen Award and the Krunoslav Sukić Award. His books have been translated into seven languages. He is also the author and screenwriter of the drama series The Paper (2016–2020; HRT, Netflix, HBO Max) directed by Dalibor Matanić. He co-wrote the feature films Cirkus Columbia (2010), directed by Danis Tanović, and Fashion at High Tension (2013), directed by Filip Šovagović.
ABOUT THE TALK:
In the warm and cosy setting of the KIC mezzanine, our writers talk about the various pressures they face: creative, financial, emotional, motivational, existential, and those related to time and family life. In an intimate conversation with the host, Karmen Špoljarić, they open the doors to the micro worlds that shape their creative process.
Do they have the support and understanding they need, a room of their own, peace, and quiet? Do their family members tiptoe around the house in tense anticipation of a new text? Do they write within their comfort zone, or in the twilight zone? And why, despite everything, do they continue to write and create?
