This book would not have seen the light of day without the intuition, support, and insightful guidance of two brilliant women: my incredible and vibrant agent, Anne Edelstein, and my equally incredible and passionate editor from Twelve, Deb Futter. Each in her own elegant and thoughtful way has led me toward the final artistic product that is Country of Red Azaleas. Thank you both for embracing my book with love and meticulous care!
In order to weave the complicated fabric of this novel I have gathered many wrenching and amazing stories of survival, and talked to many people who have offered me priceless insight and information and have guided me along some of the dark paths of memory of the Bosnian war during the early nineties. I wholeheartedly thank Kemal Kurspahic for meeting with me on several occasions, visiting my university, sharing with me startling and unforgettable stories about living and reporting under siege in Sarajevo during the years of the war. I want to warmly thank Nermina Kurspahic for hosting me in her lovely house in Semizovac one July afternoon on the commemoration of the Srebrenica massacre, sharing her stunning stories and delicious fruit and opening her heart and house to the curious stranger that I was. You both have greatly inspired me.
I want to thank Dijana Milosevic for the inspiration and insight she has provided for me for years with her stunning work as director of the DAH Theater, sharing war stories and her lucid perspective on the war. I thank her also for connecting me to the unknown woman from the Women in Black group who welcomed me in her Belgrade apartment. I thank this anonymous Serbian woman who in the hallway of her apartment handed me in silence and pride the invaluable document that is the collection of testimonials, gathered in the book Women in Black: Women’s Side of War.
I am thankful to the Bosnian poet and peace activist Ferida Durakovic, who met with me in Sarajevo and shared her own story of survival and those of many other women, as well as her poetic vision of the war and the postwar period. Many thanks are also due to Sonja Biserko, who received me warmly at her office of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia and shared invaluable insights and information.
I owe heartfelt thanks to Catharine MacKinnon for her brilliant, poignant insights and valuable information about the sexual violence against Muslim Bosnian women during the Bosnian war of the nineties and the glorious victory she obtained for the Bosnian women victims of the war in the trial of Kadic v. Karadzic.
I am grateful to Washington and Lee University for the ongoing support with research time and funding, Lenfest Sabbatical and summer leaves and grants that have facilitated the completion of this book. In particular I want to thank my friend, colleague, and dean, Suzanne Keen, who has offered continued support of my creative projects throughout the years.
I am grateful to Paul Friedrich for having read and offered helpful feedback on earlier versions of the novel and for his unflinching support of my creative work. As always I thank my mother, Stella Vinitchi Radulescu, a brilliant poet in her own right, who is both my greatest supporter and my most lucid critic and who inspires me endlessly.