One of the greatest modern Serbian poets and playwrights, Ljubomir Simović, passed away last night in Belgrade at the age of 89.
Ljuba Simović was born on December 2, 1935, in Užice. He completed elementary and high school in his hometown and graduated from the Faculty of Philology at the University of Belgrade, majoring in the history of Yugoslav literature and Serbo-Croatian language. During his studies, he worked as editor and editor-in-chief of the student literary magazine Vidici. He spent his working life as an editor in the cultural editorial office of Radio Belgrade.
He published the following poetry books: Slovenske elegije (1958), Veseli grobovi (1961), Poslednja zemlja (1964), Šlemovi (1967), Uoči trećih petlova (1972), Subota (1976), Vidik na dve vode (1980), Um za morem (1982), Deset obraćanja Bogorodici Trojeručici hilandarskoj (1983), Istočnice (1983), Gornji grad (1990), Igla i konac (1992), Ljuska od jajeta (1998), Tačka (2004), and Planeta Dunav (2009).
Selections of Simović’s poetry were published in the books Izabrane pesme (1980), Hleb i so (1985, 1987), Istočnice i druge pesme (1994), Učenje u mraku (1995), Sabrane pesme I–II (1999), and Pesme. Knjiga prva and Pesme. Knjiga druga (2005). He also wrote the plays: Hasanaginica, Čudo u Šarganu, Putujuće pozorište Šopalović, and Boj na Kosovu. Simović’s plays were performed on many of our stages, as well as abroad.
In addition to poetry and plays, Simović also devotedly wrote essays about Serbian poets and playwrights. This resulted in the book Duplo dno, which went through several editions. His essays on visual artists were published in the book Čitanje slika (2023).
Simović also wrote the dream diary Snevnik (1998) and the novel Užice sa vranama (1995).
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Beginning with the book of autopoetic and engaged essays Kovačnica na Čakovini (1990), Simović authored an entire series of books discussing current literary, cultural, social, and political issues: Galop na puževima (1994), Novi galop na puževima (1999), Guske u magli (2005), Obećana zemlja (2007), Titanik u akvarijumu (2013), Žabe u redu pred potkivačnicom (2016), Odbrana Beograda (2020), and Neslana so (2023).
The Selected Works of Ljubomir Simović in 12 volumes were published in 2008.
Simović was the recipient of the most prestigious literary awards for poetry, drama, and essay writing. In October 1994, he was elected a full member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts.
Arhipelag, which confirmed the news of the academician’s death, stated that it is grateful to Ljubomir Simović for his support and understanding, goodwill, and careful reading of their books. Ljubomir Simović had been working for years on the poetry book Riba sa dva repa. Although the book was long finished, the poet wished to continue working on it and was dedicated to it practically until the very end. In several interviews, he spoke about the book and that it would be published by Arhipelag. The poetry book Riba sa dva repa will be published in the coming period as another testament to Simović’s poetic legacy and as further proof that poets are born—poets do not die.
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Source: Nova.rs, Foto: Radar / Vesna Lalić