The promotion of Dr. James Lyon’s book which connects the city of Srebrenica and Count Dracula titled "Kiss of the Butterfly" was organized at the International University of Sarajevo on Tuesday, November 11, 2014 in the amphitheater of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS). The promotion was moderated by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lejla Panjeta. Distinguished guest was greated by Prof. Dr. Yücel Oğurlu, Rector of IUS with his associates, Vice Rector Assist. Prof. Dr. Muhamed Ali, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS), Assoc. Prof. Dr. Muhidin Mulalić, Prof. Dr. Mesut Idriz and Secretary General Emir Hadžikadunić.
The students had a unique opportunity to listen very unusual lessonas part of interdisciplinary course titled ''Vampire Cinema’’, along with the book promotion. The novel of Dr. Lyon combines in a unique way folk traditions of the Balkan peoples and modern metaphorical reality of vampirism in the recent war and the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. This is also a exceptional work in our region with archival references to the history of the myth of vampires in the Balkans.
Dr. James Lyon is a prominent political analyst and historian. He received his PhD on the matter of history of the Balkans at the prestigious University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and spent the last eighteen years working for NGO sector, diplomacy as well as at business consultant posts for post-war reconstruction in the Balkans. He is founder of the Foundation for Preservation of Historical Heritage which operates on pro-bono basis and is devoted to digitizing archives of cultural and historical holdings of the National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He also works as a senior research associate at the Center for Southeast European Studies at the University of Graz. Besides this kind of work he intensively writes and publishes papers on the subject of the Balkans. "Kiss of the Butterfly" is his first work of fiction.
