In 2021, the year of reading, as proclaimed by the Government of the Republic of Croatia and the Ministry of Culture and Media, the Croatian Romani Union “KALI SARA” published two new literary works, the autobiography “Dreams of a Roma” by Veljko Kajtazi, which had its first presentation to readers on October 16th 2021 in the lapidarium of the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb, and a collection of narrative-journalistic stories “Romanipe – from Shadow to Light”, whose promotion was held as part of the Day of Romani Culture on the occasion of the International Day of Romani Language on Wednesday, November 3rd 2021 in the Croatian Romani Union “KALI SARA”, and the program was led by the co-authors and editors of “Romanipe”, Maja Grubišić and Selma Pezerović.
Since the Croatian Romani Union “KALI SARA” made it possible that such marginally published stories united in the book “Romanipe” really saw the light, the literary evening began with an applause for the president of the Croatian Romani Union “KALI SARA”, Suzana Krčmar, followed by an applause for the narrator Veljko Kajtazi, who also contributed to the realization of this edition. Before reading an excerpt from the preface, which doubles as a review by Dr. sc. Ljatif Demir, Grubišić and Pezerović, the initiators of the idea for the creation of this collection, briefly spoke about their journalistic work in Phralipen’s editorial office, where they encountered live stories of people that left such a deep impression on them, that eventually some of these stories also found their place in this book.
Some of the narrators had the opportunity to attend a literary evening, among them Orhan Galjuš, who is originally from Kosovo and now lives in the Netherlands. Since he likes to say that he belongs to the whole world, and that his homeland is the Romani language, his story focuses on travel, so he told the audience that for him, the world is actually small and the sun is not that far away. He also shared his vision of the Roma as the winners in life because they contribute to peace by understanding other nations and coexisting with them regardless of their knowledge of the Romani language. One of the stories closely related to language is the story of MP Veljko Kajtazi. Speaking about writing the first Romani-Croatian and Croatian-Romani dictionary, thereby significantly contributing to the modern struggle for Romani identity, he introduced the audience to an important segment of his life on which they can read about in the book. Language is also a basic motive running through the story of Mirdita Saliu, who, unfortunately, could not join the literary evening, but recorded a short video in which she thanked everyone who participated in the project, and congratulated the International Day of Romani Language in advance. Elvis Kralj, another narrator in attendance at the literary evening, presented his story – actually an intimate confession about a child’s search for identity – to the audience, and revealed that behind all his actions, there was always a desire for other children to accept him.
Grubišić and Pezerović then conveyed the greetings of two narrators who were not able to join them, Hedina Tahirović Sijerčić, translator, journalist and author of the first Romani-Bosnian dictionary, and Nataša Tasić Knežević, opera diva, soprano and soloist of the Opera of the Serbian National Theater. Then they reached Vedrana Šajn, the initiator and host of the only internet radio dedicated to national minorities, which Vedrana talks about in her story. In a short address to the audience, this young woman modestly said that she is just at the beginning of her professional career, and pointed out her mother as her greatest source of support. The story of Edis Galushi, linguist and author of two monodramas in Romani, which were also staged theatrically, was presented, which brought us right back to the Romani language as the basic motive, considering that Edis dedicated his entire career to his native language.
The audience was also addressed by the poet and prose writer Alija Krasnići, in whose story we discover more about his literary work. The conversation with him introduced us to a whole world hidden within the walls of the Roma settlement, which, according to him, played a huge role in preserving the overall Romani identity and spirit, tradition and language, in one word – romanipe. The story last presented, but by no means the least important, came from Germany, and its narrator, professional actor Neđo Osman, addressed the audience in a short video. The childhood memories he spoke about in the book prompted him to reconsider the labels he was attributed as a child later in life, and with the desire to change this negative perception of the Roma, he once said in an interview: I always had my strategy, so in various environments and situations, I kept saying I was a Roma, even when no one even asked me. I kept talking about the Roma even when no one cared, I talked so that others wouldn’t.
In addition to the narrators, the presenters used the opportunity to also thank all others who were willing to invest all their energy and love in the creation of this book, such as the already mentioned Ljatif Demir, author of the preface, the review and the translations into Romani; Vedrana Szekely Kiseljak, the author of the English translation; English language professor Conrad Kellett, and Ivana Vukelić for proofreading and corrections. The conversation between the creators of this book ended with thanking the audience for coming, and with the Opra Roma greeting (Forward Roma), which recounts the story of the First World Romani Congress in 1971 in London, which marks the beginning of building a new history of the Roma people. The rest of the evening was spent in pleasant company with the signing of free copies of books distributed to everyone in the audience. We kindly invite all of you to find
both editions by the Croatian Romani Union “KALI SARA”, “Romanipe – from Shadow to Light”, and “Dreams of a Roma” at this year’s Interliber, which will be held October 9th-14th 2021 at the Zagreb Fair.
