Reflecting Upon Kenan Trebincevic's Reading - April 6th, 2015

Tonight, I went to see Kenan Trebincevic speak about his new memoir, "The Bosnian List," in Chapman's Henley Reading Room.  I didn't know much about the book or anything about Trebincevic's life, so it was interesting to hear him speak about his story. The reading began with an introduction by Tom Zoellner, who happens to be my Creative Nonfiction professor this semester. He gave a brief synopsis of Trebincevic's life, and then Trebincevic took the stand to speak about his life and why he chose to write this memoir.

Trebencevic was born in and lived in Bosnia in the 1990s. When he was 12, his Karate coach (he was very into Martial Arts), showed up at his door with an AK-47 gun and told him and his family that they had one hour to leave the country or they would be killed. So, he and his family immigrated to Westport, CT, speaking no English and with only $300.  Trebencevic befriended a student in his class at school who showed him the ropes of the American education and he joined the school soccer team; he said that his classmates suspected he was so fast because he "was running from bullets in Bosnia." He became close with his soccer coach, the first coach he had befriended since his Karate coach.

Now, Trebencevic works in Queens, NY as a physical therapist. One of his patients, an English teacher, told Trebencevic that she has her students write three pages about the most humiliating event that has happened in their lives as a writing exercise. Trebencevic was intrigued by this, and he wrote the three pages, which eventually turned into a New York Magazine article, and later became fleshed out into this memoir (his patient helped him write it!)  After the New York Magazine article was published, he wrote a list of 12 people that he wanted to confront, and he eventually looked into several of these people's lives.  He learned that his Karate coach took captives to a concentration camp nearby, but he was too young (12 years old) to have been a part of a concentration camp. He also passed away.

Trebencevic said, "In my memoir, I hold a lot of grudges - but I have a right to." He repeatedly talked about how angry he was and how much anger was in the pages he wrote; he even seemed angry when he spoke.  Though, he did admit that he didn't feel like a hero and thought that "no would care about my story" when he published it. He knew that there were people who had gone through worse situations than he had.  However, both his mom and his brother told him how proud they were for writing their family's story, and he dedicated his memoir to his mother.  She had always encouraged him to read.

It was very interesting to learn about Trebencevic's life and his memoir sounds very compelling. I wished he had read an excerpt from it, maybe just even the first chapter, so I could get a sense for his writing style.  Since I've been learning how to write creative nonfiction this semester, I'm interested in exploring the genre more.  Maybe in the near future, I will read his book.