Aleksandar Hemon’s workshop “Writing for the Public – Literature and Journalism” is the first workshop that Hemon held in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Aleksandar Hemon (www.aleksandarhemon.com) has lived in Chicago since 1992. His stories were published by prominent international newspapers such as The New Yorker, Chicago Review, and The Paris Review and are included in “The Best American Short Stories” 1999, 2000 and 2006. Hemon’s two most famous works, The Question of Bruno and Nowhere Man, were translated into many languages. He is presently living in Paris.

1. Why are you living in Paris?
The current concatenation of circumstances in my life is such that it allows me to live in Paris. I like the city and I'm using this opportunity. I'm writing a book and learning the language.
2. Can we expect a new book from you soon?
I'm working on a book called The Lazarius Project. The manuscript should be finished by the end of next year. I already have a contract with the Riverhead publishing company.
3. Is the workshop that you held at Mediacentar Sarajevo the first such workshop that you held in the B/C/S language?
Yes, it is. Before I held this workshop, I thought it would be a great challenge for me because this is the first workshop I am holding in the B/C/S language. In the United States I hold workshops on creative writing and literature. This is a challenge because of the increased relevance here of issues related to the public sphere, which is very vulnerable in today's situation, and it's also a challenge for me because we talked about essential issues which are important for people.
4. You mentioned that you talked to the participants about some issues that are important for people. Can you tell us what these issues are?
When I talk about essentially important issues, I talk about issues related to the public sphere in the present situation, journalistic and literary behavior in the public sphere, as well as issues of their responsibility.
5. Can you briefly tell us your impressions from the workshop?
The participants really made a big impression on me. They have great professional achievements behind them, they are young and smart people who are aware of what’s going on around them, people who aren't afraid to face the important issues, people who are able to engage in dialogue in the public sphere in a way that is very rare today. Despite the individual differences, sensibility and experience, we managed to come up with a common goal. I learned a lot, maybe even more than they did.
6. You said the participants are able to engage in dialogue in a way that is very rare today. What exactly did you mean by that?
All these young people act as independent individuals with personal responsibility, without representing peoples and thus respecting the public sphere. They survived the collapse of the public sphere without losses at a personal level and that's the most important thing. I hope they learned a lot these three days. I certainly did.
7. Since you hold creative writing workshops in the United States, can you draw a brief parallel between journalists/students in the United States and here?
The United States is a bigger media space, opportunities for professional profiling are greater, there is no room for mixing journalism and literature. Writers don’t become journalists; they just step into the news space and step out of it. We are certainly talking about a lower threshold of responsibility, while here it’s different. The system of values is not what it used to be. When I speak of the present system, I mean the system in Daytonian Bosnia where peoples are sovereign, not writers. This kind of political situation where peoples are sovereign is basically undemocratic and the public sphere where sovereign individuals operate is under attack. Precisely this kind of situation is conducive for collapse of the public sphere.
8. The topic of this workshop was “Writing for the Public – Literature and Journalism.” Do you see yourself as a journalist or a writer?
I see myself both as a journalist and a writer. I need to survive in the news space, I need to communicate with people more often than in literary communication. My literary communication with readers happens every 3 or 4 years, which is the average period of publishing a literary work. That’s why I need communication in the news space, which is much more frequent.
9. How much can short workshops, such as this one, help people do something specific, develop their thinking into plans?
You have to ask the participants. My opinion is that they help a lot because they create room for discussion. First, I didn’t come here with an intention and knowledge which I would enter into their consciousness and which they would then take home like software. I came here to encourage these young people to think.
10.  Seven days before the workshop was held, you were a guest of the National Library of Serbia in Belgrade and you spoke on the issue “What makes a good book”? What does make a good book?
I delivered an hour-long lecture on this in Belgrade. But this is a kind of summary of my entire lecture on the issue. A good book is a book that helps a reader come up with new ways of reading, a book that teaches him to read it.
11.  How did you manage to find a balance in a cultural sense between life in the United States, your temporary stay in Paris and trips to B-H?
I found balance by writing in two languages. With the help of books and articles in my mother tongue, I manage to communicate with B-H and Sarajevo. If it weren’t for these books, I probably wouldn’t be here. It helps me meet Bosnians and Herzegovinians all over the world.
12.  Can we expect you to write a book in French sometime in the future?
By the end of 2007, which is how long I am staying in Paris, I will just about be able to write my homework in French.