On Thursday, May 22, 2025, Assistant Professor Dr. Vesna Suljić from English Language and Literature (ELIT) study program organized the launch of the book “Nineteen Ninety-Two” written by Mirko Jeleč, publicist and former radio journalist. The book was released in 2022, and its second edition has been translated into English by Ms. Asja Suljić.
The English version of the book was published in May 2025 by the Usora Public Library on a significant anniversary – 800 years since the first mention of Usora, the river and the area surrounding it, where the events from this book are set. The event was attended by IUS students and staff as well as people from the wider community who saw the announcement for the event in the media. The author himself travelled from Vancouver, Canada to present this book to the public.
“Nineteen Ninety-Two” is a book based on personal accounts of people who experienced the beginning of war in Doboj in 1992. Twenty-five stories speak about it. The tellers’ accounts range from life threats to real torture in their houses or camps. However, the author maintains an objective approach and provides plethora of facts, court documents and numerous official evidence to support the tellers’ claims that what they were telling really happened.
Asja Suljić, a bilingual in Bosnian and English, shared her experiences as a translator and how she tackled different challenges while translating this book– from specific terminology related to military or construction industry, to different registers and culturally specific nuances and particularities. The motivation to translate this book into English stemmed from her wish to familiarize non-Bosnian speaking audiences with experiences of war victims or witnesses so that their individual experiences are heard.
The author’s aim is to set the path towards redress and healing which will lead to change at personal, institutional and national levels, leading to reconciliation and stable peace. To point to absurdity of the war, the author read the story “On the Train Tracks” told by women who were forced to leave their hometowns fearing prosecution based on their nationality and religious background which were seen unfavourable by the usurpers of power in 1992.
