Slobodan Selenic is one of the most prominent contemporary Serbian writers, a novelist and playwright whose contribution to Serbian literature is indelible. In the historic year 1968, in his celebrated first novel, Memoari Pere Bogalja (Memoirs of Pera the Cripple), Selenic's severe criticism of his country's social order surprised his readers, who were unaccustomed to such open, rigorous, sincere, and merciless critique.

Selenic was born on 7 June 1933 in Pakrac, Western Slavonia. His father, Sava, and mother, Vera, were both professors and ran a private school in Belgrade until 1941. Selenic attended the school in Belgrade and in 1956 graduated with a degree in English language and literature from Belgrade University. At that time he started reviewing theater productions and books. After graduation he also wrote theater critiques in the daily paper Borba (Struggle) from 1957 to 1968. In 1961 he received a scholarship and completed one year of postgraduate study in the drama department...