Yugoslavia: EUROPA CEPT 1983 Ivo Andrić

Ivo Andrić (9 October 1892 – 13 March 1975) was a Yugoslav novelist, poet and short story writer who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1961. His writings dealt mainly with life in his native Bosnia under Ottoman rule.

Born in Travnik in Habsburg-occupied Bosnia, Andrić attended high school in Sarajevo, where he became an active member of several South Slav national youth organizations. Following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in June 1914, Andrić was arrested and imprisoned by the Austro-Hungarian police. As the authorities were unable to build a strong case against him, he was placed under house arrest for much of the war, only being released following a general amnesty for such cases in July 1917. After the war, he studied South Slavic history and literature at universities in Zagreb and Graz, eventually attaining his Ph.D in Graz in 1924. Between 1920 and 1941, he worked in the diplomatic service of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

In 1939, he was appointed Yugoslav ambassador to Germany but his tenure ended in 1941 with the German-led invasion of his country. Shortly after the invasion, Andrić returned to German-occupied Belgrade. He lived quietly in the city for the duration of World War II, writing some of his most important works, including the The Bridge on the Drina (this famous bridge is on first maxicard) . Following the war, he was named to a number of ceremonial posts in Yugoslavia, which had come under communist at war's end.

In 1961, the Nobel Committee awarded Andrić the Nobel Prize in Literature, selecting him over the likes of J.R.R. Tolkien, Robert Frost, John Steinbeck and E.M. Forster. The Committee cited "the epic force with which he traced themes and depicted human destinies drawn from his country's history". Andrić died in Belgrade in 1975.

Stamps are issued on 1983-05-05.