Quiet Flows the Una

Quiet Flows the Una is the story a man trying to overcome the personal trauma caused by the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. Through an induced trance, the main character of the novel takes the reader through three time periods: the hero’s childhood before the war, the battle lines during the war, and his attempt to continue with normal life in a post-conflict society. Through poetic, meditative prose, Sehic attempts to reconstruct the life of a man who is bipolar in nature; being both a veteran and a poet. At times, he manages to pick up the pieces of his life, but at other times it escapes him. With the help of his memories, he uses his mind and strength to look for a way out of the maze in which he is confined, acting as both archivist and chronicler of the past - roles that allow him the opportunity to rebuild everything again. In parallel to this story, the book’s passages on the city next to the river Una take on mythical and dreamlike dimensions. Here, the novel expands into a poetic description of nature, seasons, flora and fauna, as well as childhood memories not yet tainted by all that will happen after 1992. Quiet Flows the Una is a book is dedicated to people who believe in the power and beauty of life in the face of death and mass destruction.

Faruk Sehic studied veterinary medicine in Zagreb before joining the army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in which he led a unit of 130 men. After the war he studied literature. The collection of short stories Under Pressure was awarded the Zoro Verlag Prize, and his novel Quiet Flows the Una received the Mesa Selimovic prize for the best novel published in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Croatia in 2011. Sehic is a member of the Writers’ Association and the PEN Centre of Bosnia & Herzegovina. He works as a columnist and journalist.