Minister

A young artist dies during a performance in which the Montenegrin Minister of Culture also participates. Is the minister guilty? Does the ministry help artists or kill them? What is the role of art, cultural heritage, and culture in general in the ruins of wild transitional privatization, in a society that simply cannot shake off the question of identity? These are just some of the questions that arise in the ten days in which we follow Minister Valentin Kovačević, a bankrupt playwright with literary ambitions who navigates personal hardships ˗ a failed marriage, an authoritarian father, and a demented mother – as well as the duties imposed on him by his ministerial function. Desires and expectations are constantly clashing with a rather different reality and the question is how much more can Valentino endure. At the end of the day, even the minister is only human. Or is he?

Stefan Bošković (1983), a writer of fiction, graduated in Drama from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts at the University of Montenegro. He is the author of the novel Šamaranje (Slap in the Face), which was awarded the Prize for the Best Manuscript Novel in Montenegro for 2014. In 2020 he published the novel Ministar (Minister), which won a 2020 European Union Prize for Literature. He has written the script for the short movies Tranquillity of Blood (2015) and Peloid (2019), which have been screened at more than 50 international film festivals. Several of his plays have been staged in theatres in Montenegro.

The book will be published with the support of the Slovenian Book Agency.