Please note: The page below represents the archived content relating to the previous Government of Montenegro. Some of the information might be inaccurate or outdated.
Archive

PM Marković presents Branko Banjević with Božo Bulatović Literary Award: Entire Montenegrin history appears as epic about people who are constantly fighting for right to decide for themselves

Published on: Aug 30, 2020 • 1:00 AM Author: PR Service
Last night in Mojkovac, Prime Minister Duško Marković presented Branko Banjević with this year's award for lifetime literary work "Božo Bulatović" and said that entire Montenegrin history appears as a literary work, as an epic about people in the Balkans who are constantly fighting to preserve their freedom and the right to decide on their future and that awards and manifestations, which bear the names of the best among us and convey their ideas and ideals, are one of the ways to stop attacks on our identity and our authenticity.

"This recognition, today, a decade after its establishment in Mojkovac and with its sixth winner, carries multiple messages. It is, on the one hand, a praise to the author and his work, but also a proof that creativity, especially literary creativity, still lives, and still captivates many generations, as it did in the times behind us. It confirms that the book will remain an unavoidable witness and participant in cultural life even after us. After all, what would this world be without story and storytelling, as the great Andrić said. Montenegro is a country of people of spirit and spirituality, and of a wise word - from St. Peter of Cetinje and Njegoš, to Lalić and Đilas. And the Montenegrins are a people of defiant and proud spirit, who strengthened that spirit through ups and downs and creation, and then transformed it into art. That is why the works created in Montenegro have always been an expression of the local spirituality, an expression of the space and time that created them. And that is why in our country, imagination and reality, history and fiction intertwine. And the entire Montenegrin history appears as a literary work, as an epic about people in the Balkans who are constantly fighting to preserve their freedom and the right to decide on their future. It was the same when the Montenegrins turned the letters into weapons, it is the same today in the complex geo-political context which we are surrounded by," said the Prime Minister.

Prime Minister Marković said that awards and manifestations, which bear the names of the best among us and convey their ideas and ideals, are one of the ways to stop attacks on our identity and our authenticity.

"Mojkovac did it with the street named after Božo Bulatović. Only in that way, we will preserve not only the memory of them, but also the essence of what they fought for, and that is a civil, free and independent Montenegro. This year's award goes to Branko Banjević, an author who has represented Montenegro with dignity at every cultural address for decades. Even in the time of the former Yugoslavia, he pointed out Montenegrin characteristics, which he showed most in the famous edition Luča (The Ray), together with several other authors"- said the Prime Minister.

The winner of this year's award reminded of his friendship with Božo Bulatović, their joint struggle for Montenegrin literature and culture in general:

"There was no self-interest behind that friendship. It was a friendship of ideas that bound us in the fight for new literature, for a new poetic tradition in Montenegro to overcome the provincialization of Montenegro to which it was exposed for over 150 years to someone else's interest that abolished its values and imposed other people's values as our own values, abolishing the memory and tradition of the Montenegrins and the future and the state in which they found themselves"- said Branko Banjević.

That fight continued and was won in 2006 with the renewal of Montenegro's independence - said Banjević, calling the act a final victory and a millennium act and one of the greatest events in Montenegrin history to which all true Montenegrin cultural workers contributed.

In his address, Branko Banjević said that when he visits our leading tourist centres, he tells his friends that he comes from the future.

"My friends asked my one day, 'Where have you been?' I say: I come from the future, I come from Porto Montenegro, PortoNovi, Luštica... That is the future of Montenegro, which eliminated trade union tourism, which meant someone else's economic occupation" - said Branko Banjević.

PUBLIC RELATIONS SERVICE OF THE GOVERNMENT OF MONTENEGRO


Related articles:

Press release from the 69th Cabinet session Feb 20, 2025
Gradual alignment of visa policy to safeguard the country’s economic interests Feb 19, 2025
Prime Minister Spajić meets with President of Italy Sergio Mattarella Feb 19, 2025
DPM Koprivica meets with Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Montenegro Feb 18, 2025
Is this page useful?