| Ljiljana Habjanović Đurović | |
| Native Name: | Љиљана Хабјановић Ђуровић |
| Birth Date: | 6 September 1953 |
| Birth Place: | Kruševac, PR Serbia, FPR Yugoslavia |
| Nationality: | Serbian |
| Alma Mater: | University of Belgrade |
| Office: | Member of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia |
| Term Start: | 3 June 2016 |
| Term End: | 3 June 2016 |
Ljiljana Habjanović Đurović (Serbian: Љиљана Хабјановић Ђуровић; born 6 September 1953) is a Serbian author.
Habjanović Đurović was born in Kruševac, in what was then the People's Republic of Serbia in the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. She was educated in the community and later graduated from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Economics. She worked as a bank clerk, a promoter in the field of foreign tourism, and a journalist for Duga before devoting herself to a full-time literary career in 1996. Habjanović Đurović is the owner of the publishing house Globosino Aleksandrija, which she founded in 2003.[1]
She has written fifteen published novels, many of which have been best-sellers in Serbia. Her recognitions include the prestigious Zlatni beočug award (2008) and the Vukova nagrada award (2009), the latter of which she received for her contributions to Serbian culture. She has been recognized by the Serbian Orthodox Church for the role of spirituality in her works.[2]
Habjanović Đurović's works have also gained a following in other countries. She received the Zlatni Vitez (Golden Knight) literary award in Russia in 2011 and has won a significant following in Italy.[3] [4] [5]
Habjanović Đurović defended the response of Muslim organizations in Serbia to Sherry Jones's novel The Jewel of Medina in 2008. Jones's book was widely criticized by Muslim groups internationally for its depiction of Muhammad's wife Aisha; in Serbia, Muslim community leaders requested and received an apology from the book's publisher. The Muslim leaders emphasized that they had no interest in banning literature but wanted to draw attention to the desecration of their faith they identified in the book. Some Serbian writers, including Aleksandar Čotrić, described the publishers' apology as "excessive." Habjanović Đurović disagreed, saying, "An author that writes about true actions and events has a responsibility to travel and investigate these events' historical background. This is especially important when one writes about the heritage of a nation that one does not belong to. [...] When I was writing An Observation of the Soul, in the segment where I wrote about Skanderbeg, I had to study Albanian history of the fifteenth century."[6]
Habjanović Đurović was a close friend of Mirjana Marković, the wife of Slobodan Milošević. In 1994, she wrote an article describing the initial meeting of Milošević and Marković at high school in Požarevac, while Marković was reading Sophocles's Antigone. In Habjanović Đurović's account, Marković's sorrow from the early death of her mother attracted her to Milošević, as he "felt the need to relieve her pain, to protect and cherish her."[7] A May 1999 New York Times article described Habjanović Đurović as Marković's "hagiographer," citing her comment that Marković "always openly and boldly claimed that [Milošević] would have been quite different without her, worse in every respect."[8]
In February 2008, after the Kosovo government's unilateral declaration of independence, she wrote an article for Novosti with the title, "Kosovo's non-oblivion: Occupation will pass." This piece included the statement, "[N]o official of the state of Serbia must ever accept the secession of part of our country. Or succumb to delusions based on promises. Or get scared by threats. Each and every one of us must keep awareness inside us and pass it onto our descendants - that Kosovo-Metohija is a Serb land and that this which has happened is occupation that will end, just like any other occupation."[9]
Habjanović Đurović appeared in the ninth position on the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS)'s Future We Believe In electoral list as a non-partisan candidate in the 2016 parliamentary election. This was tantamount to election, and she was indeed elected when the list won a majority victory with 131 out of 250 seats.[10] She declined her mandate, saying that she was grateful to have contributed to the party's victory but wanted to devote her full attention to writing.[11] The Serbian national assembly considers her to have briefly served as a deputy on 3 June 2016, before her resignation took effect.[12]
Her novels include:
Habjanović Đurović has also written a book on publishing called Србија пред огледалом (Serbia in Front of a Mirror) (1994), written five stories for children, and published anthologies of devotional poetry.[13] [14]