Location: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Sanijela Matković
Sanijela Matković was born in 1973 in what she herself calls the most beautiful corner of the universe—broad in kindness, sun, and heart—Široki Brijeg, surrounded by the scents of the Herzegovinian karst. She completed her primary and secondary education there, and later graduated in Theology from the Catechetical Institute in Mostar.
She has been writing ever since she learned the alphabet, and her first poem was awarded at the “Golden Harp” competition in 1982. For years she kept journals in which, in addition to daily entries, she also wrote poems. She wrote for her soul and from it, unburdened by the idea that anyone might one day read her words.
At the beginning of the 2000s, she began writing plays for amateur theatres, with more than twenty of them produced to date. Her first collection, The Imprint of the Heart, was published in 2010 and contains the works mentioned above. After publishing her first book—which, she notes, was the hardest to publish—she went on to release eight more titles, including two novels, three collections of love poetry, and two collections of spiritual poetry.
Today she works in the field of culture and theatre. Recently, she often writes directly on her Facebook profile. Sanijela points out that for her, the written word is like a camera—it frames transience and gives it a moment of permanence; while poetry, to her, is a medium through which she encounters people and herself. If she were to be born again, she would change many things, but not her literary soul.
Sanijela is a member of the Croatian Writers’ Association, PEN Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Croatian Writers’ Association of Herceg-Bosna, and the Široki Brijeg branch of Matica hrvatska.
She is the author of the books:
The Imprint of the Heart (2010 – collection of dramatic texts),
Scores of a Dream (2011 – collection of love poetry),
Panta Rei (2013 – collection of love poetry),
In Encounter with the Word (2013 – collection of spiritual poetry),
On the Mystical Trail of Tears (2017 – collection of spiritual poetry),
Transcripts in Stone (2018 – collection of regional poetry),
and the novels The Lavender Cove (2018) and Rain the Color of Tulips (2019).
Among her recognitions and awards, she won third place at the 9th Days of the Martyred Herzegovinian Franciscans in 2019 for her story In the Beginning Was the Word and at the End, the Excellence Plaque for her contribution to culture, and in 2019 she represented Bosnia and Herzegovina at the International Literary Meeting “Chekhov’s Autumn” in Yalta.
Her texts have been published in the digital anthology At the Wayside Inn, the Anthology of the Solin City Library, the Gazelle anthology, the Scavacon anthology, the Storm anthology, the weekly Hrvatsko slovo, the Matica hrvatska journal in Mostar Motrišta, the Matica hrvatska journal in Široki Brijeg Vitko, the journal of the Croatian Writers’ Association of Herceg-Bosna Osvit, as well as in other anthologies and international collections.
The Imprint of the Heart (2010) – collection of dramatic texts
Scores of a Dream (2011) – collection of love poetry
Panta Rei (2013) – collection of love poetry
In Encounter with the Word (2013) – collection of spiritual poetry
On the Mystical Trail of Tears (2017) – collection of spiritual poetry
Transcripts in Stone (2018) – collection of regional poetry
The Lavender Cove (2018) – novel
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