Edita Mujkić is an award-winning author and a National Ambassador for the Refugee Council of Australia. Originally from Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, she has lived in Melbourne, Australia since 1994.
Her first book, the memoir Between Before and After, has won several international awards. In the UK, it was the runner-up in the Hunter Davies Lakeland Book of the Year 2023 and was awarded the Bookends Prize for People & Business. In Australia, while writing her memoir, Mujkić won the 2017 Varuna Mentorship Award, while excerpts of her book were shortlisted for the 2020 Sydney Hammond Memorial Short Story and longlisted for the 2016 Richell Prize for Emerging Writers. In 2016, she was a runner-up for the Deborah Cass Writing Prize.
What inspired you to be a writer?
I love stories, and I love books so much that I always read several books in parallel as I cannot decide which one is better and more important to continue reading. I love telling stories, even the most ordinary ones, in a way that keeps readers interested in hearing more. If I could create in my readers the feeling I have when I read my favourite authors, that would be a dream come true.
What prompted you to write 'Between Before and After'?
Our eventful family history prompted me to create a written record about it. While I worked on my memoir, I submitted extracts to several writing competitions and was longlisted, shortlisted, a runner-up and a winner. This encouraged me to persist with shaping the story for publishing.
Do you have any more books in the pipeline?
I certainly do.
I am currently researching a story I would like to write about that takes place in several European countries.
What is your professional background?
I am originally trained as an Electrical Engineer with a major in IT and have a long career as an IT professional.
I believe I am one of the lucky ones that equally enjoy using both sides of the brain – the logical thinking, but also creativity and imagination.
Any advice you’d like to give aspiring writers?
Persist.
Persist in writing, persist in improving your craft, persist in sending your work to competitions, persist in finding a publisher.
Who/what inspires you?
Life inspires me. Not only mine and the lives of people I know well, but the lives of those I hear about in the media or from friends.
I am inspired by authors who turn ordinary lives into mesmerising stories.
What are your hobbies, interests and favourite books?
Writing and reading are my main interests. I compulsively buy and borrow almost every book I hear about that seems interesting. Of course, many of them turn out not to be what I expected, but I like to give them a try even if I don’t finish every book I start reading.
The list of my favourite books is very long; I am very loyal to authors I like and try to read everything they publish. I am a big fan of Orhan Pamuk, especially his A Strangeness in My Mind. Haruki Murakami is there too with his bizarre stories. But also, Jhumpa Lahiri, Hisham Matar, Leïla Slimani, Ann Patchett, and many more.
How can readers contact you?
ABC Radio Conversations with Richard Fidler. Listen here.
ABC Radio National ‘Days Like These’ podcast. The Flak Jacket – Edita escapes Sarajevo. Listen here.
Between The Covers podcast. Listen to this great interview with Hawkeye author Edita Mujkic here.
WestWords Podcast. Hear a reading from Between Before and After. Edita Mujkic gives a brief intro to her story as well as a 7-minute reading from her book here.
SBS Croatian Podcast. ‘Edita Mujkić o bijegu iz opkoljenog Sarajeva te ujedinjenju obitelji nakon 600 dana’. Edita Mujkic speaks about her escape from besieged Sarajevo and family reunion 600 days later. *Please note, this interview is in Croatian. Listen here.
