2: Two winners of the P.E.N./Freedom to Write Awards: Serbian dissident writer SVETLANA SLAPSAK (Svet-LAUNA SLAP-sack) and Bosnian writer ZORAN MUTIC (zoe-RON MOO-tick). Both fled Sarajevo and Belgrade respectively to avoid repercussions because of their outspokenness and are living in exile in Slovenia. MUTIC is of Serb/Muslim background and is a translator who translated Rushdie's "Midnight Children," into Serbian. After the death sentence against Rushdie, MUTIC became a staunch supporter of him in the Sarajevo community. SLAPSAK wrote the widely acclaimed essay, "When Words Kill." In 1968 she was beaten by police because of her editing of the magazine "Frontisterion." She is president of the Committee for the Liberty of Expression.
Copyright 1993 Fresh Air