The literary evening Zmijanje in Belgrade, Srpska in Serbia took place last evening as part of the event Kočić’s Day in Belgrade.

The character and works of the Serbian literature’s great and famous tribune Petar Kočić were discussed by the academician Matija Bećković, this year’s recipient of the Kočić Award, writers Goran Šaula, Mirko Vuković and Radmilo Radovanović from the Republic of Srpska and Nenad Radenković, Aleksandra Petrović and Saša Nišavić from Serbia, and presenters Vidak Maslovarić and Duško M. Petrović.

Speaking about Kočić, Bećković recalled that he had come from Gomionica to study at the First Belgrade Gymnasium, whose students at the time had been people who later grew up to become famous figures of Serbian history, such as King Peter I Karađorđević, Slobodan Jovanović, Stevan Sremac, and voivodes Živojin Mišić and Stepa Stepanović.

He said that everything that Kočić had written later as a prose writer was pure gold and had been greeted with ovation by all the authorities of the time.

Šaula noted that the themes that had raised Kočić to the very top of literature were eternal, such as the desire for freedom and the fight against slavery.

Maslovarić said that the literary evening, same as Kočić’s Day in Belgrade and events in Banja Luka and in Stričići, were of great importance in fostering a culture of remembrance of those who had obligated Serbs.

The literary evening was held at the Association of Writers of Serbia, which also organized it together with the Association of Writers of the Republic of Srpska and Representative Office of the Republic of Srpska in Serbia.

Yesterday, representatives of the organizers laid wreaths and flowers on Kočić’s grave in the Alley of the Greats in Belgrade’s New Cemetery.

The poets then held appropriate orations at the Kočić monument in Čuburski Park and recited verses in honor of the famous writer and famous fighter for the freedom of the Serbian people.

Source and photo: Republic of Srpska Representative Office in Serbia