Words At Large

One day during the siege of Sarajevo in 1992, as a long line waited patiently for bread in front of one of the city’s last remaining bakeries, a mortar shell exploded in the crowd’s midst, killing 22 people. Cellist Vedran Smailović, who lived nearby and witnessed the carnage, had seen enough of the war. For 22 days afterwards, he went out to the site of the attack and played Albinoni’s Adagio once a day for each of the victims. This act of bravery and defiance caught the imagination of many people around the world — including author Steven Galloway, who was inspired to write his bestselling novel The Cellist of Sarajevo (Knopf).

The Cellist of Sarajevo is the story of three people trying to survive in desperate times, and of the musician whose act becomes a rallying point for a traumatized populace. Kenan risks his life to collect water not just for his family but also for his cantankerous elderly neighbour. Dragan, who sent his wife and son out of the city at the start of the war, is overwhelmed by the constant fear of living in a battle zone and nearing his breaking point. Arrow (known only by her nom de guerre) is a skilled female sniper who worries about her capacity to be a hardened killer; she’s asked to protect the cellist from an enemy shooter who is out to kill him as he plays his memorial to the bombing victims.

Galloway is the author of two other critically acclaimed novels, Finnie Walsh (Raincoast Books) and Ascension (Knopf). He teaches creative writing at the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University.

Steven Galloway spoke with Sheryl MacKay on the CBC program North By Northwest. He talked about using the bare facts of the cellist’s story as a launching point for his imagination, and why he purposely went to Sarajevo only after writing his first draft. He also reflects on the puzzling dilemma of a civil war where neighbours who have been living together peaceably become deadly enemies.

First aired April 18, 2008 on North By Northwest. [runs 18:00]