Ep. 35. Lana Bastašić

Winner of the 2020 European Union Prize for Literature, Lana Bastašić’s powerful debut novel Catch the Rabbit is a modern-day Alice in Wonderland set in post-war Bosnia, in which two young women plunge into the illusive landscape of their shared history. She speaks with Cezar Gheorghe about writing the Balkans and the difficult task of telling stories about the inherited trauma of the war in Bosnia. The conversation revolves very much around the theme of naming and how that relates to living in a place where ethnic identity becomes the most important aspect of identity.