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Aleksandar Hemon

アレクサンダル・ヘモン

Aleksandar Hemon

Pen Names: Cielo Hemon（Pseudonym used for his electronica music）

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1964-09-09 （Sarajevo, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SFR Yugoslavia）
Nationality
Bosnia and Herzegovina, United States
Languages
Bosnian, Serbian, English
Residence History
Sarajevo (birthplace) → Chicago (long-term residence) → Princeton (current residence)

Career

Occupations
short story writer, novelist, essayist, literary critic, columnist, television writer, screenwriter, creative writing professor, musician
Active Years
1990-2025
Affiliations
Princeton University (creative writing faculty)
Influenced By
Joseph Conrad, Vladimir Nabokov

Education

University of Sarajevo
Year of Graduation: 1988
Country: Bosnia and Herzegovina (former Yugoslavia)
Studied in Sarajevo; was published in former Yugoslavia before emigrating
Northwestern University
English (graduate)
Degree: M.A.
Period: 1994–1996
Year of Graduation: 1996
Country: United States
Completed master's degree in English

Awards

MacArthur Fellowship
2004
Organization: MacArthur Foundation
Result: 受賞
Guggenheim Fellowship
2003
Organization: Guggenheim Foundation
Result: 受賞
John C. Zacharis First Book Award
2001
Work: The Question of Bruno
Result: 受賞
National Book Critics Circle Award (finalist)
2003
Work: Nowhere Man
Organization: National Book Critics Circle
Result: 最終候補
National Book Critics Circle Award (finalist)
2008
Work: The Lazarus Project
Organization: National Book Critics Circle
Result: 最終候補
National Book Award (finalist)
2008
Work: The Lazarus Project
Organization: National Book Foundation
Result: 最終候補
PEN/W.G. Sebald Award
2011
Organization: PEN
Result: 受賞
Premio Gregor von Rezzori (for foreign fiction)
2011
Work: The Lazarus Project (Italian translation Il Progetto Lazarus)
Organization: Premio Gregor von Rezzori
Result: 受賞
National Magazine Award (Essay and Criticism)
2012
Work: The Aquarium (essay published in The New Yorker)
Organization: American Society of Magazine Editors
Result: 受賞
PEN America Jean Stein Grant For Literary Oral History
2017
Work: How Did You Get Here?: Tales of Displacement
Organization: PEN America
Result: 受賞
St. Francis College Literary Prize
2009
Organization: St. Francis College
Result: 受賞
Grand Prix de Littérature Américaine
2023
Work: The World and All That It Holds (French translation Un monde de ciel et de terre)
Organization: Grand Prix de Littérature Américaine
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Question of Bruno

2000 short story collection / novella

A debut collection of short stories and a novella introducing recurring characters and themes.

identitymigrationmemory

Nowhere Man

2002 linked stories / novel

A linked collection of stories centered on Jozef Pronek, exploring immigration and identity.

immigrant experiencehumor and tragedylanguage

The Lazarus Project

2008 novel

A novel inspired by the real case of Lazarus Averbuch, intertwining immigrant and personal histories.

history and memoryfate of immigrantsviolence and injustice

Love and Obstacles

2009 short story collection

A collection of stories exploring love and life's obstacles across varied narrative modes.

lovelosshuman relationships

The Book of My Lives

2013 memoir / nonfiction

A memoir-essay collection reflecting on family history, migration, and language.

familymemorylanguage

The Making of Zombie Wars

2015 novel

A novel engaging critically with contemporary culture and media.

media critiquecontemporary culture

The World and All That It Holds

2023 novel

A long novel about history, memory, and family; won the Grand Prix de Littérature Américaine in French translation.

historyfamilymemory
Translations
  • Un monde de ciel et de terre (French translation by Michèle Albaret-Maatsch)

Bibliography

  • The Question of Bruno (2000)
  • Nowhere Man (2002)
  • The Lazarus Project (2008)
  • Love and Obstacles (2009)
  • The Book of My Lives (2013)
  • The Making of Zombie Wars (2015)
  • My Parents: An Introduction (2019)
  • The World and All That It Holds (2023)

Adaptations

  • Sense8 (Netflix special — co-writer on finale)
  • The Matrix Resurrections (film — co-writer)

Translations of Works

  • The World and All That It Holds → Un monde de ciel et de terre (French translation)
  • The Lazarus Project → Il Progetto Lazarus (Italian translation)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
postmodern narrative techniquesblend of humor and tragedypolyphonic perspectives
Recurring Motifs
immigrant experience and estrangementmemory and historydislocations of language

Legacy

Established a distinct place as an immigrant writer writing in English; regarded as a prominent example of a non-native English-language literary voice. Has received and been shortlisted for many literary honors and influenced criticism and screenwriting.

In Popular Culture

  • Co-writer on the finale of Sense8
  • Co-writer of The Matrix Resurrections (2021)

Quotes

  • “Perhaps the esteemed Nobel Committee is so invested in the preservation of Western civilization that to it a page of Mr. Handke is worth a thousand Muslim lives.”
    Source: The New York Times (opinion piece) (2019)

Trivia

  • Releases electronica music under the name "Cielo Hemon."
  • Member and supporter of Sarajevo football club FK Željezničar (Željo).
  • Also a supporter of Liverpool FC.
  • Serves as a creative writing professor at Princeton University.
  • His infant daughter Isabel died of complications from a brain tumor in 2010; he wrote about the experience in The New Yorker.