{"id":8185,"date":"2017-03-20T22:05:32","date_gmt":"2017-03-21T02:05:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/?p=8185"},"modified":"2017-03-31T10:54:47","modified_gmt":"2017-03-31T14:54:47","slug":"in-memoriam-predrag-matvejevic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/in-memoriam-predrag-matvejevic","title":{"rendered":"In memoriam: Predrag Matvejevi\u0107"},"content":{"rendered":"

20 March 2017<\/em><\/p>\n

Predrag Matvejevi\u0107 died in Zagreb on February 2, 2017. He was one of the most important and most translated writers of the Balkans. A cosmopolitan, a polyglot and a tireless activist, he worked endlessly for human rights, for peace and for dialogue among people.<\/p>\n

Predrag was a Vice President of PEN International. He was also a member of PEN Croatia and one of the co-founders as well as an Honorary Member of PEN Trieste.<\/p>\n

For his work as a writer he received numerous awards in Italy and abroad.<\/p>\n

The French government awarded him the Legion of Honour and the President of the Italian Republic bestowed on him the Italian citizenship as well as awarding him the title of Commander of the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity.<\/p>\n

A commemoration for Predrag was held in Trieste on March 1, 2017 in the Main Hall of the School of Modern Languages \u200b\u200bfor Interpreters and Translators, where a group of close associates and friends, writers, journalists and intellectuals convened in representation of various cultural associations. His wife, Mrs. Mira Matvejevi\u0107, attended the meeting.<\/p>\n

Many people spoke, among them members of PEN Croatia, PEN Slovenia and PEN Trieste. Jennifer Clement, President of PEN International, sent a message which was read by Antonio Della Rocca, Member of the International Board. A memory of Predrag was also sent by Boris A. Novak, Vice President of PEN International.<\/p>\n

The commemoration ended with a poem dedicated by Della Rocca to his friend Predrag.<\/p>\n

For Predrag<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Where did you come from<\/em><\/p>\n

where have you been<\/em><\/p>\n

where are you now<\/em><\/p>\n

Predrag Matvejevi\u0107<\/em><\/p>\n

precious son of the lineage of Matvej<\/em><\/p>\n

with your face of an ancestral Slave<\/em><\/p>\n

with your windswept hair<\/em><\/p>\n

with you liquid eyes<\/em><\/p>\n

where disappointment and gaiety<\/em><\/p>\n

did blend looking at humanity and things<\/em><\/p>\n

with disenchanted optimism<\/em><\/p>\n

asking the world and people<\/em><\/p>\n

for understanding and mutual respect<\/em><\/p>\n

keeping firm in your judgment<\/em><\/p>\n

without violence nor condemnations<\/em><\/p>\n

in full freedom of sentiments and expression.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

In your heart Russia and Ukraine mixed up<\/em><\/p>\n

with your native Mostar<\/em><\/p>\n

with your Yugoslavia<\/em><\/p>\n

with Croatia and Serbia that welcomed you<\/em><\/p>\n

with France and Italy<\/em><\/p>\n

always looking at a Mediterranean<\/em><\/p>\n

without walls nor barbed wire<\/em><\/p>\n

citizen of the world<\/em><\/p>\n

friend of Trieste.<\/em><\/p>\n

Source\uff1ahttp:\/\/www.pen-international.org\/newsitems\/in-memoriam-predrag-matvejevic\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

20 March 2017 Predrag Matvejevi\u0107 died in … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,33],"tags":[2038],"views":4993,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8185"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8185"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8229,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8185\/revisions\/8229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}