War & Conflict

Narratives shaped by conflict, survival, and the human cost of war.

All countries Afghanistan Algeria Armenia Bangladesh Benin Bosnia and Herzegovina Cambodia Canada China Congo, Democratic Republic Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) Croatia Cyprus Ethiopia France Germany Greece Indonesia Iraq Japan Kenya Lebanon Malaysia Mexico Myanmar Netherlands Nigeria North Korea Pakistan Palestine Russia Rwanda Senegal South Korea Sri Lanka Syria Tanzania Türkiye Ukraine United Kingdom United States Vietnam Yemen

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The Bridge on the Drina

The Bridge on the Drina

The Bridge on the Drina is a historical novel chronicling nearly four centuries of life in Višegrad, a small town in eastern Bosnia, through the story of a single stone bridge spanning the Drina River. Built in the sixteenth century under the Ottoman Empire, the bridge becomes the centre of the town’s social life, connecting people from different religious and cultural communities while witnessing generations of change. Through a series of interconnected stories, Ivo Andrić explores the lives of ordinary people shaped by imperial rule, religious tensions, political upheaval, and personal tragedy. As the Ottoman Empire gives way to Austro-Hungarian authority and new nationalist movements emerge, the bridge remains a powerful symbol of continuity amid historical change. Blending folklore, local legends, and historical events, the novel examines how communities preserve their memories and traditions while confronting the forces that divide them. It is a profound meditation on history, coexistence, and the enduring human cost of conflict.

Bosnia and Herzegovina 1945

Sarajevo Blues

Semezdin Mehmedinović

Sarajevo Blues is a collection of prose poems, fragments, and brief reflections written during the siege of Sarajevo in the Bosnian War. Combining personal observation with documentary detail, Semezdin Mehmedinović captures the daily reality of living in a city under bombardment, where ordinary activities become acts of survival and the boundaries between private life and public catastrophe begin to dissolve. Rather than presenting a conventional narrative, the book offers an intimate, fragmented account of war through images of empty streets, sudden violence, disrupted routines, and the emotional strain of uncertainty. Mehmedinović’s restrained, lyrical writing resists grand explanations, focusing instead on the human cost of conflict and the persistence of memory. Both a literary response to historical tragedy and a meditation on displacement, fear, and endurance, Sarajevo Blues gives voice to the experience of civilians whose lives are transformed by war.

Bosnia and Herzegovina 1992

Sarajevo Marlboro

Sarajevo Marlboro

Miljenko Jergović

Sarajevo Marlboro is a collection of short stories set during the Bosnian War, portraying the lives of ordinary people caught in the siege of Sarajevo. Rather than focusing on battles or political leaders, Miljenko Jergović turns his attention to the everyday experiences of civilians as familiar routines collapse under the pressure of violence, fear, and uncertainty. Through intimate portraits of neighbours, families, friends, and strangers, the stories reveal how war transforms relationships, reshapes identities, and exposes both the cruelty and compassion of human nature. Small, seemingly insignificant details—a household object, a remembered conversation, or a fleeting act of kindness—become powerful symbols of a world that is disappearing. Written with restraint, dark humour, and deep humanity, the collection offers a fragmented yet deeply personal portrait of Sarajevo and the lasting emotional consequences of conflict.

Bosnia and Herzegovina 1994

Say Fire

What does it mean to inherit a war you can never fully leave behind? In this powerful debut poetry collection, Bosnian poet Selma Asotić explores the lingering wounds of the Bosnian War, tracing how violence becomes embedded in family histories, bodies, and memories. Through vivid, fragmented poems, she moves between childhood recollections, the grief of losing loved ones, the troubled legacy of a soldier uncle, and the search for intimacy in a world shaped by conflict. Her writing also embraces lesbian desire, female solidarity, and the complicated relationship between a daughter and her mother. Fire becomes both a destructive force and a symbol of resistance—a language for experiences that ordinary words cannot contain. Moving between tenderness and anger, silence and confession, Asotić asks whether poetry can recover what history has shattered. Say Fire is a deeply personal exploration of survival, belonging, and the struggle to reclaim one’s voice from the ruins of the past.

Bosnia and Herzegovina 2025

About this theme

Books: 4
Countries: 43

Countries with this theme

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Congo, Democratic Republic

Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)