DIWAN - CASOPIS ZA KULTURU

"DIWAN" culture magazine (ISSN 1512-5025)

“Diwan” was launched in 1998 in Gradačac as an almanac aiming to articulate the creative potential of the Gradačac Literary Meetings ( Kikić's Meetings ) and to participate and foster cultural exchange in the entire territory of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the cultural space of Southeast Europe . The PU Public Library "Alija Isaković" in Gradačac established itself as the publisher of this new magazine. After the war of independence of Bosnia-Herzegovina, the significance of the Gradačac Meetings surpassed by far the local horizon ( Kikić's Meetings used to be a literary display on the federal level in ex-Yugoslavia), and “Diwan” (as a project undergoing constant transformations) surpassed the boundaries of the entity and the borders of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Having been restructured into a cultural magazine, “Diwan” published works of over 250 authors. These included both the affirmed, but also the young talented writers/theoreticians from all parts of Bosnia-Herzegovina and all other states of former Yugoslavia as well as authors from the EU, Australia and the USA.

The editorial board of “Diwan” resists a rigid definition and this (pro)traditional - (non)alternative magazine for culture often resembles the youth press: because generational and genre divisions have been overcome; because postmodernism provides a non-ideological freedom of expression that enables polyvalent intercultural contacts. In “Diwan” , young authors receive an equal position alongside their established colleagues and bestow on the magazine a seriousness of maturity, but also the charm of "rough" talent. Today, the profile of the magazine is determined by the tendency to deconstruct the platitudes on "great" and "small, "old" and "new" nations, on "central" and "marginal" cultures, on "traditionalism" and "modernism". The editorial board of “Diwan” has demonstrated a predilection for varied content. According to the idea of the editor Dinko Delić, instead of using categorised forms (columns), omnibuses of semiotic and visual texts follow one another: essays and prose are mixed with poetry and illustrations. The design of “Diwan” is provocative, but simple and attractive with an allusion to pop-art -author Bojan Bahić: Art Creation Service .

Since 2001, “Diwan” has been a partner project of the digital magazine "LitKon" / www.litkon.org / and the LitKon-network for the distribution of projects in culture on the territory of Southeast Europe . Close cooperation with magazines and nongovernmental organisations that make up "LitKon" enables an exchange of ideas and texts, as well as an expansion of dialogue between state institutions and NGOs.

In November 2002, we signed a contract for the distribution of “Diwan” through the internet library CEEOL (Central and Eastern European Online Library) / www.ceeol.com /. For “Diwan” , this partnership project represents a bridge to a professional exchange of texts with other magazines and the readership not only of Central and Eastern Europe , but also as a way to present the creative output of all peoples of Bosnia-Herzegovina as equal partners to the rest of the world. Among the over 1200 magazines and publications at CEEOL, “Diwan” is the first and (so far) the only magazine from Bosnia-Herzegovina.

“Diwan” has been publishing works from the Cum grano salis literary meetings in Tuzla since 2003. Particular attention has been devoted to laureates of the Meša Selimović literary award for the best novel of the štokavski (bhsc) linguistic area ( Bosnia-Herzegovina , Serbia , Croatia and Montenegro ). In the same year, “Diwan” Intercultural No. 1 (English translations of selected texts) was launched planning to publish one translated collection every year.

“Diwan” has been promoted in Gradačac, Banja Luka , Sarajevo , Belgrade , Zagreb and Tuzla and it has also been displayed at book fairs in Cairo , Frankfurt, Tallinn , Zagreb , Belgrade and Pula . “Diwan” can be found on: / www.diwanmag.com.ba / where you can also find information about the Gradačac Literary Meetings . In April 2004, “Diwan” joined the EUROZINE network / www.eurozine.com / as fully-fledged partner.