Aleksandar Hemon

Aleksandar Hemon's grandfather came to Bosnia from Ukraine. Hemon was born in Sarajevo in 1964. In 1992, he was in the USA as part of a cultural exchange when he heard about the siege of his home town. He decided to remain in exile. He has been writing in English since 1995. Ever since his internationally acclaimed novel "The Lazarus Project", which was shortlisted for the 2009 International Book Prize in Germany, he has been one of the most respected voices in contemporary American literature.

In the KRASS Festival program, he presents his new book Die Welt und alles, was sie enthält: When Archduke Franz Ferdinand arrives in Sarajevo on a June day in 1914, Rafael Pinto is busy chopping herbs behind the counter of the pharmacy he inherited from his father. It's not quite the life he had imagined during his student days in libertarian Vienna, but it's nothing that a shot of laudanum, a walk and daydreaming couldn't dissolve into bliss. And then the world explodes. The war devours everything he knew, and the only thing Pinto lives for is the affection of Osman, a comrade, a man of action who complements Pinto's poetic soul. A charismatic storyteller and Pinto's protector and lover. Together, Pinto and Osman escape the trenches and fall into the clutches of spies and Bolsheviks. As they travel over mountains and through deserts, from one world to another, all the way to Shanghai, it is only Pinto's love for Osman that will survive. A great, tender, stirring story that spans decades and continents – and once again confirms Hemon's status as one of the boldest writers of our time.

When he's not writing books and screenplays, Aleksandar Hemon produces electronic music. Cielo Hemon is his musical alter ego. Together with Goran Marković, he plays in the band Strajder. Hemon and Marković have lived in the USA since the 1990s and started making music together again in 2020. In their soundscapes, they combine electronic dance with traditional elements, psychedelic and ambient sounds. DJ Cielo Hemon mixes Afro and other House for KRASS. Hypnotizing, charismatic, absolutely danceable!