Ena Selimović
@enaselimo.bsky.social
translator | writer | editor | co-founder of Turkoslavia Collective | NEA translation fellow | doctorate in comparative literature | ig@yugaduga | www.turkoslavia.com
In Irish Gaelic, to say “cheers (to your health)” is sláinte mhaith, the latter’s pronunciation in Scottish Gaelic loosely—drunkenly—calling up the BCMS “živjeli.”
November 29, 2025 at 10:55 PM
In Irish Gaelic, to say “cheers (to your health)” is sláinte mhaith, the latter’s pronunciation in Scottish Gaelic loosely—drunkenly—calling up the BCMS “živjeli.”
Thrilled to share a piece Bojana Videkanić and I wrote for @berlinergazette.bsky.social: "Toward a New Yugoslav Politics." It was occasioned by the Yugofuturisms conference organized in Waterloo by Bojana, Dragana Obradović, and Zdenko Mandušić: berlinergazette.de/toward-a-new...
November 29, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Thrilled to share a piece Bojana Videkanić and I wrote for @berlinergazette.bsky.social: "Toward a New Yugoslav Politics." It was occasioned by the Yugofuturisms conference organized in Waterloo by Bojana, Dragana Obradović, and Zdenko Mandušić: berlinergazette.de/toward-a-new...
In BCMS, the word “koljeno” means “knee.” It can also be used to denote that unfortunate joint in the human body—as well as—and hopefully with more fortune—your kin (e.g., generations; descent). Perhaps knees hurt so much because they carry the weight of generations.
November 18, 2025 at 6:11 PM
In BCMS, the word “koljeno” means “knee.” It can also be used to denote that unfortunate joint in the human body—as well as—and hopefully with more fortune—your kin (e.g., generations; descent). Perhaps knees hurt so much because they carry the weight of generations.
Lots of exciting panels, roundtables, book discussions, + socials happening at this year's ASEEES (Association for Slavic, East European, & Eurasian Studies) convention starting NOVEMBER 20! www.newyugoslavstudies.org/aseees-2025....
November 17, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Lots of exciting panels, roundtables, book discussions, + socials happening at this year's ASEEES (Association for Slavic, East European, & Eurasian Studies) convention starting NOVEMBER 20! www.newyugoslavstudies.org/aseees-2025....
Looking beyond to 2026—!—and grateful to be working with the one and only @alinaetc.bsky.social as guest poetry editor for Turkoslavia's fifth.
November 10, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Looking beyond to 2026—!—and grateful to be working with the one and only @alinaetc.bsky.social as guest poetry editor for Turkoslavia's fifth.
Just one of those words you love, unexplained. (This word: "bat" in BCMS.)
November 5, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Just one of those words you love, unexplained. (This word: "bat" in BCMS.)
This one's for all of you who, when leaves fall, thrive. In BCMS, "pasti" is the verb "to fall"—colloquially the pronunciation of its infinitive form drops the "i." In conversation, the English noun "past" (prošlost) and the BCMS verb "past[i]" (to fall) advise: Don't forget the past, lest you fall.
November 3, 2025 at 7:30 PM
This one's for all of you who, when leaves fall, thrive. In BCMS, "pasti" is the verb "to fall"—colloquially the pronunciation of its infinitive form drops the "i." In conversation, the English noun "past" (prošlost) and the BCMS verb "past[i]" (to fall) advise: Don't forget the past, lest you fall.
A lesson on coincidence (or?): The word "歩道" (ho-doh) in Japanese means "sidewalk," and the verb for "to walk" in BCMS is "hodati." Thoughts while people, lively, walk past, wondering: how we keep going; how do we keep going.
November 2, 2025 at 8:59 AM
A lesson on coincidence (or?): The word "歩道" (ho-doh) in Japanese means "sidewalk," and the verb for "to walk" in BCMS is "hodati." Thoughts while people, lively, walk past, wondering: how we keep going; how do we keep going.
Honored to have a translation of Zlatan Nezirović's brilliant story "FATHER" in the latest Blackbird journal!
blackbird.vcu.edu/father/
blackbird.vcu.edu/father/
October 29, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Honored to have a translation of Zlatan Nezirović's brilliant story "FATHER" in the latest Blackbird journal!
blackbird.vcu.edu/father/
blackbird.vcu.edu/father/
In English, saying “um” signals a stumbling point or a way of reserving space in time to complete your thought. Annoying though the habit can be to some, “um” coincidentally deepens in meaning when you think of the BCMS “um,” which means: mind, reason, intellect, wit.
October 29, 2025 at 8:36 AM
In English, saying “um” signals a stumbling point or a way of reserving space in time to complete your thought. Annoying though the habit can be to some, “um” coincidentally deepens in meaning when you think of the BCMS “um,” which means: mind, reason, intellect, wit.
Cherished lines of late 💙
October 26, 2025 at 5:19 AM
Cherished lines of late 💙
Please mark your calendars and share with friends! An evening of readings and mingling—in the heart of Washington DC. This will serve as a fundraising celebration of Central Asian and Southeast European literature and literary translation!
October 21, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Please mark your calendars and share with friends! An evening of readings and mingling—in the heart of Washington DC. This will serve as a fundraising celebration of Central Asian and Southeast European literature and literary translation!
SAVE THE DATE! The ASEES convention is in Washington DC this year, and the New Yugoslav Studies Association + Black Sheep Society invite you to a night of music and/or dancing and/or drinking and/or snacking (and/or crying) at Roofers Union on Saturday, November 22! Hope to see many of you there!
October 20, 2025 at 11:44 PM
SAVE THE DATE! The ASEES convention is in Washington DC this year, and the New Yugoslav Studies Association + Black Sheep Society invite you to a night of music and/or dancing and/or drinking and/or snacking (and/or crying) at Roofers Union on Saturday, November 22! Hope to see many of you there!
Publishing Turkoslavia means having something to celebrate each and every day. Congratulations to contributors Shelley Fairweather-Vega, Hamid Ismailov, @yanaellis.bsky.social, and Zdravka Eftimova for this well-deserved acknowledgement of your brilliant work as writer-translators!
October 14, 2025 at 10:53 AM
Publishing Turkoslavia means having something to celebrate each and every day. Congratulations to contributors Shelley Fairweather-Vega, Hamid Ismailov, @yanaellis.bsky.social, and Zdravka Eftimova for this well-deserved acknowledgement of your brilliant work as writer-translators!
PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDARS! I'm thrilled to announce that author Faruk Šehić will be hosted this November by UC Berkeley, Stanford, and Clio's Books to celebrate the publication of his latest book ZELENAC, a memoir tentatively titled SANCTUARY in my translation. Hope to see many of you in the Bay! 💙
October 12, 2025 at 11:38 PM
PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDARS! I'm thrilled to announce that author Faruk Šehić will be hosted this November by UC Berkeley, Stanford, and Clio's Books to celebrate the publication of his latest book ZELENAC, a memoir tentatively titled SANCTUARY in my translation. Hope to see many of you in the Bay! 💙
Etymology bears witness to this: within every catastrophe is an "overturning." The word "catastrophe"—or "katastrofa" in Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin, Serbian (BCMS)—is rooted in the Ancient Greek "κᾰτᾰστροφή," whose first definition is listed as a process of "overturning."
October 7, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Etymology bears witness to this: within every catastrophe is an "overturning." The word "catastrophe"—or "katastrofa" in Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin, Serbian (BCMS)—is rooted in the Ancient Greek "κᾰτᾰστροφή," whose first definition is listed as a process of "overturning."
In BCMS, "sve po starom" is a cousin of the English phrase "same old same old" or "nothing new under the sun." I can bet every language speaks to moments that are utterly devoid of imagination. Share yours if you'd like!
October 2, 2025 at 2:52 AM
In BCMS, "sve po starom" is a cousin of the English phrase "same old same old" or "nothing new under the sun." I can bet every language speaks to moments that are utterly devoid of imagination. Share yours if you'd like!
And now, thanks to the best kind of mail courtesy of JoLT, I have a hard copy of their latest issue on REFUGE, which includes my translation of an excerpt from OTKUP SIROVE KOŽE by Abdulah Sidran, the writer with an uncontainable soul.
September 27, 2025 at 12:40 AM
And now, thanks to the best kind of mail courtesy of JoLT, I have a hard copy of their latest issue on REFUGE, which includes my translation of an excerpt from OTKUP SIROVE KOŽE by Abdulah Sidran, the writer with an uncontainable soul.
Another translated excerpt from Abdulah Sidran's autofiction SCRAPS in the latest issue of Trinity College Dublin's JoLT! issuu.com/trinityjolt1...
September 19, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Another translated excerpt from Abdulah Sidran's autofiction SCRAPS in the latest issue of Trinity College Dublin's JoLT! issuu.com/trinityjolt1...
ONE MORE DAY—to submit to Turkoslavia! exchanges.uiowa.edu/about-turkos...
September 14, 2025 at 2:05 PM
ONE MORE DAY—to submit to Turkoslavia! exchanges.uiowa.edu/about-turkos...
This BCMS word lesson is actually a NON-lesson. No matter WHERE "kuća" comes from, you know how primed-for-stares-by-strangers you are when someone hears you say "Idem kući" (I'm going home) on the phone to your mom? Take THAT, Thomas Wolfe—you really can't go home again. Or at least not in BCMS.
September 10, 2025 at 6:47 PM
This BCMS word lesson is actually a NON-lesson. No matter WHERE "kuća" comes from, you know how primed-for-stares-by-strangers you are when someone hears you say "Idem kući" (I'm going home) on the phone to your mom? Take THAT, Thomas Wolfe—you really can't go home again. Or at least not in BCMS.