(b. 1954) – is a British journalist and reporter, writing for ”The Guardian” and ”The Observer”. He worked as a correspondent in Bosnia, the USA and Iraq, amongst other places. In 1992, he informed the world about the concentration camps in the Balkans. In 1996, Ed Vulliamy was the first journalist in history to testify at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and again in 2011 in a lawsuit against Radovan Karadžić in The Hague. He believes that testifying in trials concerned with breaches of international humanitarian law is a responsibility of journalists; he often gives speeches on the issue as well. Ed Vulliamy is a laureate of such awards as the James Cameron Award, the Amnesty International Media Award and International Reporter of the Year Award (twice). His previous book “Amexica...” was a book-laureate of the 4th edition of our Award.

(b. 1971) - graduated in English Studies at the University of Warsaw. He has been a professional translator for over twenty years now; his work thus far includes several dozens of books, mostly belles-lettres. In 2013, he received an award for the translation of “Amexica...” by Ed Vulliamy – a book-laureate of the 4th edition of the Ryszard Kapuściński Award for Literary Reportage. Janusz Ochab collaborates with such publishing houses as Albatros, Czarne, Agora, Prószyński i S-ka. He is married and has two children, Mikołaj and Gabrysia. Janusz Ochab is a keen jogger and marathon runner.

Mariusz Kalinowski, juror, reviews Ed Vulliamy’s “The War is Dead, Long Live the War: Bosnia: the Reckoning”, translated by Janusz Ochab

Vulliamy’s story is borne out of the observation that: “Everything that happened in the war has its continuation after the war”.

“Omarska was our Auschwitz”, according to one of the inmates of the Serbian camp. Ed Vulliamy is the custodian of Bosnian remembrance – for over 20 years – making sure it is not erased, and that both parties to the conflict are not equated as complicit and equally sullied.

Accused of betraying the ethics of a reporter when he decided to testify in The Hague against Serb war criminals, Vulliamy says that he wants to remain objective – faithful to facts, rather than maintain a reporter’s neutrality – by standing between the tormentor and victims.

The Bosnian trauma is yet to be reckoned with. As a result of stubborn, renewed denials of genocide, the fiction of “reconciliation” remains a humiliating and tortuous experience for the survivors.

It was a great challenge to find the right tone for their nightmarish stories – with no dilution or hysteria, without overt presentation of brutality, but with attention and sympathy. Vulliamy has succeeded in this regard (The tone has a clear and credible ring, thanks to Janusz Ochab’s translation).

The book poses a number of questions in passing, which are relevant to Poles: opening national wounds so they don’t become encrusted in baseness, our own reckonings, and where “soft” nationalism starts becoming fanatical.

The “world of stone” experienced by survivors (Vuliamy has taken this metaphor from Tadeusz Borowski) – is our world as well – let us have no delusions that we live in a different one.
Mariusz Kalinowski