Radmila Petrović
area: Literature
Key Facts
nationality
Serbiaarea
Literatureresidence
Ariljerecommending institution
BMEIAtime period
January 2022 - February 2022She was born in 1996 in Užice. She grew up in Stupčevići near Arilje. She graduated from the Faculty of Economics in Belgrade, where she is currently completing her master's studies. As the laureate of the 42nd Lim River Poetry Evenings, she published a collection of poems “The Scent of Earth“ (House of Culture "Pivo Karamatijević", Priboj, 2014), and as the winner of the 22nd Poetry Competition "Desanka Maksimović" she published a collection “Cellulose Rock ‘n’ Roll“ (SKZ and Valjevo Gymnasium, Valjevo, 2015). She has been represented in anthologies, domestic and international journals. She has participated in numerous festivals and poetry readings across Europe. Her third collection of poetry, “Mom Knows What’s Happening in the Cities,” published by PPM Enklava in early summer 2020, has sold over 7,000 copies. The same collection was published in North Macedonia in 2021, and the Polish and German editions are in the works. Her poetry has also been translated into English, French, Greek, Italian, Slovenian, Spanish, Hebrew and other languages. She has been a scholarship holder of the Government of the Republic of Serbia. She has stayed at writing residencies in Skopje (Reading Balkans,2021), Berlin (Traduki,2021), Vienna (Q21, 2022).
At the residency, I am planning to write my fourth collection of poems about the family and social burden that an individual carries with them, dealing with childhood traumas, struggling with social pressures and the shocking dynamics of the new and inherited. My verses are my rebellion against the culture of silence that is present in the Balkans and which has damaged us more than wars. I write wondering what happens if we say everything we are "forbidden" to talk about. I am trying to write it all in the language of nature with words as strong as thunder, and yet as gentle as a newborn lamb. But, let the songs speak for themselves.