Breathing Technique
One of Serbia's most important living writers, Marija Knezevic writes poems that often read as narratives, replete with characters, humor, pathos, and unexpected twists. Readers will meet a father and daughter frolicking on a Mediterranean beach during the continuing refugee crisis, or an Inca girl whose world will be destroyed by "milk-colored people," or a beloved worldly heiress who wears men's pajamas. Knezevic also writes more classical lyrics about love, relationships, writing (or the blocks to writing), and an ample range of other topics. Her work fearlessly and frequently addresses current events and social issues, both in urban Belgrade where she lives, and more global concerns.
Marija Knežević (born 1963 in Belgrade) is a Serbian poet, fiction writer, essayist, and translator who has published eight volumes of poetry, and eleven novels and collections of stories and essays. Her work has been recognized with both local and international prizes, and one story from her collection Tabula Rasa was chosen to represent Serbia in the 2012 Best European Fiction (Dalkey Archive Press). A selection of her poetry has also appeared in translation in New European Poets, ed. Wayne Miller and Kevin Prufer (2008), and in the anthology of Serbian poetry, Cat Painters, ed. Biljana Obradović and Dubravka Djurić (2016). After graduating with a degree in literature from the University of Belgrade, she earned an MA in Comparative Literature from Michigan State University. She now lives in Belgrade.
