Mak Dizdar
Mak Dizdar
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Mak Dizdar

Mehmedalija "Mak" Dizdar (17 October 1917 – 14 July 1971) was a Bosnian poet. His poetry combined influences from the Bosnian Christian culture, Islamic mysticism and cultural remains of medieval Bosnia, and especially the stećci.

His works Kameni spavač (Stone Sleeper) and Modra rijeka (Blue River) are regarded as the most important Bosnian poetic achievements of the 20th century.

Mehmedalija Dizdar was born during World War I, to a Muslim family in Stolac, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was the son of Muharem (died 1923) and Nezira (née Babović; 1881–1945). Mehmedalija was the second of three children. His older brother Hamid was a writer. Mehmedalija's sister Refika (1921–1945) and mother were killed in the Jasenovac concentration camp.

In 1936, Dizdar relocated to Sarajevo where he attended and graduated from the State Sharia Gymnasium (Državna šerijatska gimnazija). He started working for the magazine Gajret, which his brother Hamid regulated and which was founded by Safvet beg Bašagić.

Dizdar spent his World War II years as a supporter of the Communist Partisans. He moved frequently from place to place in order to avoid the Independent State of Croatia authorities' attention.

After the war, Dizdar was a prominent figure in the cultural life of Bosnia and Herzegovina, working as the editor-in-chief of the daily Oslobođenje (Liberation). He served as head of a few state-sponsored publishing houses and eventually became a professional writer and the President of the Writers' Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a post he held until his death.

Dizdar's son Enver (8 June 1944 – 21 December 2012) was a journalist and publicist.

Mak Dizdar died aged 53 in 1971, having outlived his parents and both siblings.

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