I was born in Dubrovnik, the "pearl of the Adriatic" and lived in Napoli, Dubrovnik and Sarajevo. After spending three years in the besieged city during the war, and working as a translator, journalist, and manager of the British Council Centre, as well as Susan Sontag’s assistant on the production of Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, I moved to Bari, Italy in 1995, and then to Toronto, Canada in 1996. 

I've translated novels, philosophical essays, poetry and short stories from English into Bosnian, including works by Saul Bellow, Lawrence Durrell, Richard Rorty, Susan Sontag, Bernard Malamud, Sylvia Plath, Joyce Carol Oates and Joseph Heller. My translations of Bosnian poetry have appeared in Salmagundi, TLS, The Paris Review, Canadian Forum, Exile, and others. I also translated films and stage plays for Sarajevo television and theatre.

My own writing has appeared in publications in the former Yugoslavia, as well as Poetry Today, Meta, Gastronomica, Descant, PRISM International, BBC Radio and Radio Netherlands. My memoir "The Unbearable Lightness of Wartime Cuisine", was included in The Gastronomica Reader, edited by Darra Goldstein and published by University of California Press. My novella, The Sea, was published by Quattro Books in 2010.

Like many artists, I’ve always had day jobs to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table. Most of my career has been in the arts administration, event management and education. These roles may have slowed down my creative output, but they’ve never dulled my imagination and curiosity. They didn’t make me rich, but they’ve enriched my life in countless ways, most importantly by introducing me to remarkable people I might never have met otherwise.

Over the years, I’ve come to realise that my origins are broader than both my real and imagined ones (which may or may not include Spain, a flamenco dancer and an Irish poet). I’ve discovered new languages, new art forms, new music, new foods and new stories along the way. Now, I’m a little bit from everywhere. That feels like a precious gift.

In short: I was born and I am living to the best of my abilities, through all the usual ups and downs that life offers us. And a few not-so-usual ones, which have found their way into my writing. I’ll leave them there for now.