Ivan Bosiljcic Presents Debut Book at MTS Hall

Actor Ivan Bosiljcic presented his debut book, Our Stories, on Friday evening, September 18, at Belgrade’s MTS Hall. Beside him stood his wife, singer Jelena Tomasevic, who, as he says, was the one who talked him into writing in the first place.

The book brings together poems, diary entries and stories that Bosiljcic dedicated to his daughter, Nina. Part of the text is written for children, part for adults, so the book reads on two levels.

The actor made no secret of the fact that the idea of writing didn’t appeal to him at first. At the promotion, he described the conversation he had with his wife when she first suggested he write a book.

“I told her: ‘Come on, Jelka, for God’s sake. I’m an actor who sings. Now imagine me writing something on top of that, so now I’m supposed to write too.’ But now, I honestly don’t mind,” Ivan Bosiljcic said with a smile at the promotion, speaking to Mondo.

”I didn’t dare admit I was a poet”

At the promotion, Bosiljcic also looked back on his childhood. At 16, he wrote poems, but he didn’t dare admit they were his own.

“I didn’t dare admit I was a poet,” the actor said.

As he told it, he would stand in front of his class and claim he had found a poem by an Italian poet, when in fact he was reading his own verses.

Why did Ivan Bosiljcic cry?

The most emotional moment of the evening came when Bosiljcic read a passage dedicated to his grandfather, Ivan. The actor teared up in front of the audience.

“Not even my family knew what kind of echo the story about my grandfather had inside me, that kind of emotion,” Bosiljcic said, adding that he spotted his mother in the crowd.

“I saw my mother, she was surprised, stunned. I think it should be said openly now, call things by their real name,” the actor said.

A packed hall

Bosiljcic admitted he hadn’t expected such a large turnout for what was meant to be a quieter book promotion.

“I don’t know if it was fear or excitement, I think I’ll be unpacking that for a long time. I’m very surprised, this was supposed to be a book promotion but it grew into a fairly big gathering. It feels to me like I’m bearing witness to the truth more than ever. As an actor, I always bore witness to the truth through the verses of great poets and the writing of great authors. As a writer, you have to express what you feel directly and immediately, there’s no hiding behind a costume or someone else’s words,” Ivan Bosiljcic told Telegraf.

A message to the audience

Bosiljcic told the audience that the book wasn’t written for the spotlight.

“This book isn’t for the spotlight or for the crowd, it’s meant for you to take home,” Ivan Bosiljcic said.

He approached the dedication to his daughter Nina with particular care. He said the girl knows fairy tales by heart, but that he believes she will also find her father’s diary entries and verses interesting.

“What’s ours is only what we give,” the actor concluded.

He also spoke about the year he spent living in Russia, where, he says, he saw that actors write a great deal and that it’s common practice there. He added that he likes it when professions cross over, and that on some days, writing took up as much as 12 hours of his time.

After the official part of the program, Bosiljcic picked up the microphone and sang for the crowd. He admitted it’s a habit of his whenever he runs out of words.