Zlata's Diary

Zlata’s Diary: A Child’s Life in Wartime Sarajevo

• Genre: Diary; nonfiction
• Originally Published: 1993
• Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 640L; grades 7-10
• Structure/Length: Diary entries; 197 pages; approx. 1 hour, 33 minutes on audio
• Edition Note: Citations in this unit refer to the English translation from Croat by Christina Pribichevich-Zorić, rereleased with a new preface by Zlata Filipović in 2006 by Penguin Books.
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: Zlata records her daily life and experiences living in a besieged Sarajevo during the Bosnian War.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: War; descriptions of wartime violence, including catastrophic injury due to artillery bombardment, dismemberment, and sniper fire; death, particularly of children; fire and forcible evacuation from homes; suicidal ideation; though the diaries do not directly describe ethnic cleansing, wartime rape, and genocide, comprehensive study of the Bosnian War includes these topics.

Zlata Filipović

• Bio: Born in Sarajevo in 1980; left Sarajevo in 1993 for Paris, France, as a refugee and settled in Dublin, Ireland, in 1995 where she has lived since; following the release of her diary to international audiences, Filipović continued speaking out in interviews about her experiences and advocating for international aid for those left behind in Bosnia; attended St. Andrew’s College before going on to graduate from Oxford in 2001 with a BA in human sciences; has continued her work in activism, serving on the Executive Committee of Amnesty International, Ireland, and co-founding the Network of Young People Affected by War (NYPAW); currently works in the field of documentary filmmaking, and many of her projects relate to topics of human rights
• Other Works: Works in Writing/Translation: The Freedom Writer’s Diary (preface); Miloŝević: The People’s Tyrant (preface and translation), “Lost in Arizona” in From the Republic of Conscience: Stories Inspired by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “Hear Our Voices: Experiences of Conflict Affected Children” in Even in Chaos: Education in Times of Emergency; Works in Film/Documentary: The Farthest; Here Was Cuba; Somebody to Love; Blood of the Irish
• Awards: Nominated for an Emmy Award for The Farthest

CENTRAL THEMES:

• Hope and Perseverance
• Loss Due to War
• The Support of Friends and Family
• Coming of Age During War
• The Absurdity of War

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

• Deepen their understanding of the Bosnian War and Siege of Sarajevo to contextualize the setting and events of Zlata’s Diary.
• Analyze and compare paired texts relating to similar genres of expressive writing, such as letter writing, memoir, poetry, and eyewitness testimony, to understand Zlata’s Diary as a text that straddles multiple genres and fulfills multiple purposes.
• Read and study paired texts and other historical sources in order to analyze and discuss themes related to Hope and Perseverance, Loss Due to War, Coming of Age During War, The Absurdity of War, and The Support of Friends and Family.
• Analyze literary elements such as genre, structure, tone, irony, imagery, personification, and point of view and construct essays tying these elements to theme and rhetorical effect.