Zlata Filipovic was given a diary shortly before her tenth birthday and began
to write in it regularly. She was an ordinary, if unusually intelligent and
articulate little girl, and her preoccupations include whether or not to join
the Madonna fan club, her piano lessons, her friends and her new skis. But the
distant murmur of war draws closer to her Sarajevo home. Her father starts to
wear military uniform and herfriends begin to leave the city. One day, school
is closed and the next day bombardments begin. The pathos and power of Zlata’s
diary comes from watching the destruction of a childhood. Her circle of friends
isincreasingly replaced by international journalists who come to hear of this
little girl’s courage and resilience. But the reality is that, as they flyoff
with the latest story of Zlata, she remains behind, writing her deepest
feelings to ‘Mimmy’, her diary, and her last remaining friend.
About the Author.
Zlata Filipovic was born in 1980. From 1991 to 1993 she wrote in her diary of
her experiences living during the war in Sarajevo. Zlata escaped in 1993 and
went to St Andrews College in Dublin, and then to Oxford University where she
graduated in 2001 with a degree in Human Sciences.”