Zlatko Topcic

Zlatko Topcic was born on April 30th, 1955 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia. He is a multiple award-winning Bosnian writer and one of the greatest contemporary writers. His films are screened at over 200 international film festivals around the world, including: Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Rotterdam, Karlovy Vary, Toronto, Locarno, New York, Los Angeles, Hollywood, Amsterdam.

Regarded, by literary critics, to be one of the most significant phenomena in world literature at the beginning of the 1980s.

Also, he wrote the screenplays for TV movie Collapse (1985) and four documentary films: The Best Years Ever (1994), Miracle in Bosnia (1995), I Respond to You, God (1996) and Blood and Musk (1997), achieved worldwide success.

One of the founders of the Association of Writers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, from 1993 to 2001 the first General Secretary and from 2006 to 2010 a Board member.

Was the founder and chief editor of the newspaper Letter (Slovo) and organizer of the panorama of Bosnian war stories in English titled Forgotten Country (1997), as well as an anthology of members of the Association of Writers of Bosnia and Herzegovina titled The Best Of (2000).

Winner of the first prize at an anonymous competition for original screenplay of the Association of Filmmakers in Bosnia and Herzegovina for the script Remake in 1999. In the same year, the script was awarded at the competition of the Ministry of Culture.

Was a director and artistic director of the Chamber Theater 55 for 10 years, from 2001 to 2011, which is statistically the most successful period in the history of theater (winning numerous international awards around the world).

His drama Time Out (2002; directed by James P. Mirrione), which has attracted great attention from world media such as the BBC and CNN, had its English language premiere in Great Britain (London, at the Gate Theatre and Riverside Studios, as well as in Leeds, at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, the Royal Armouries Museum, Powerhouse 1, and Bretton Hall). Also, it was performed in the United States (New York City at the Broadway theatre), Austria (Vienna) and Poland (Warsaw). It received great ratings from audiences and critics, became a hit, the most watched Bosnian and ex-YU play ever and the first play from ex-YU region performed in these countries.

Topcic wrote the screenplays for the internationally acclaimed feature films Remake (2003) and The Abandoned (2010).

His screenplay for The Abandoned (working title: Bare Skin) was a winning (91 entries) at the first edition of CineLink in 2003.

In 2004, he was included on the annual Marquis Who's Who in the World list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

The only author who thrice won the BZK Preporod Award for best dramatic text, for dramas Bare Skin (2006), Krokodil Lacoste/Silvertown (2010) and Nobody's and Everyone's (2017).

Winner of the prestigious PEN Austrian Center Award for drama I Don't Like Mondays (2009).

In 2011, for that script, he won the Best Screenplay Award at the Transilvania International Film Festival, Golden Carpathian Film Festival and Hollywood Film Festival. Besides his film work, Topcic wrote best-selling novels translated into twelve world languages, sold over ten million copies, and theater plays produced in British, American (Broadway and Hollywood) and Austrian productions, directed by world-renowned theater directors. Member of the Association of Writers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, PEN Center of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Association of Filmmakers in Bosnia and Herzegovina, International Screenwriters' Association, American Screenwriters Association, Concordia Organization (New York) and the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House - London).

Was a selector of the International Theatre Festival MESS in 2012, president and member of several juries, among others, Foundation for Cinematography jury member for film projects financing in 2019.

Refugee Performance (2013), book by Australian professor Michael Balfour, from various aspects deals with literary, and especially, drama creativity whose theme is refugee. Among eighteen authors from all over the world who testify on this subject, is Topcic with his 1999 drama Refugees.

Topcic refused to write a script for the 2014 Serbian film So Hot Was the Cannon (Top je bio vreo; labeled as a Serbian propaganda film) and adapt the controversial novel by Vladimir Kecmanovic.

His best-selling novel Le mot de la fin (2016) (English: The Final Word, 2011) is one of the favorite books of Michael Haneke.

He has produced over 40 theater plays, notably the cult hit The Frog, which was adapted into a film in 2017, and Helver's Night, internationally most awarded play in the history of Bosnian theater.

Member of Council of the BHRT (Public Broadcasting Service) Governing Board since 2019.