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Letter from Skopje

Somehow I managed to make my way here, by sheer instinct along criss-crossed streets that bear no
resemblance to the street map I was consulting, across this bedraggled Macedonian city, to the Astoria
Internet cafe where I often did my email 4 years ago.
I'm not sure what the attraction is anymore: they've dropped salads and soups from their bistro menu and
only offer those white bread "tosts" with ham and cheese known throughout the Euro cafe world, and they
now blast Mako-turbo-rock in one's ears as one labours at the computer, but clocks on the wall helpfully let
us know that it is now 7:30 in Los Angeles. The day is a lovely late-summer sort of day, and I ate my "tost"
out on the little terrace in the back alley behind the cafe. Believe me, the back alley is a real relief from
Partizanska Boulevard out front.

Partizanska: interesting holdover-name from the Yugo era. As is Marshall Tito Avenue, probably the last
so-named street in ex-Yugoslavia. But the portrait of Tito that I saw 4 years ago in the window of a little
Albanian nut shop in the bazaar is no longer there, although the same tasty freshly-toasted almonds are
still for sale in large cloth sacks and measured out with scrupulous delicacy into a small brass pan. I
bought myself 100 grams in a paper cone and strolled around the corner to one of my favourite spots here, a
cafe under an ancient oak tree by a splashing Turkish fountain, just a few paces away from the obnoxious
freeway that now separates the old market area from a gorgeous Turkish bathhouse, now an art gallery, and
the Vardar river, the same one that flows out to Thessalonica.

A big change here is the introduction of official bilingualism, more or less: Albanian signage in those
parts of the city that have at least 20% Albanian residents. There are adherents and detractors of this
policy, depending on whether the speaker feels that "Europe" is getting way too pushy in advance of
Macedonia's negotiations for entry into the European Union. Another sore point is the memorial statue of
Mother Theresa near the central square. She was ethnically Albanian but is claimed by Skopje. So,
whose saint is she? I haven't dared start any arguments about this one.

In fact, I don't feel alike arguing about anything here. I've come for a couple of days' respite after
the rather crazed schedule of events in Belgrade and Nis during the days of the International Book Fair in
Belgrade and the launch and promotion of my book, The Doomed Bridegroom, in its Serbian translation, in
Belgrade and Nis. The publishers are the Student Cultural Centre of the University of Nis, a centre
that also has a theatre, choir and folk music group, and the translators are two of my friends in Nis,
Aleksandar Blagojevac who works for the Centre, and Vesna Lopicic, who teaches in the English Department
and who is a fan of Canadian writing. I have absolutely no idea if our book will have any impact at
all on the Serbian public (it has been mentioned in a couple of newspapers) but for the moment I'm just
tickled pink that my Bridegroom now speaks Serbian as well as English.

The Canadian embassy in Belgrade took care of everything for us Canadian writers, including David
Albahari, David Homel, Gil Courtemanche, Joe Blades: hotel and per diem, van & driver back and forth to the
Fair, press conferences, promotional events, reception at the ambassador's residence (where I was introduced
to the Rector of the University of Nis and tried to sweet-talk him into opening a Canadian Studies Centre
there but he wasn't much interested, really only wanted to make sure I visited him and his family on
the family's saint's day, their "slava," as they call it - St Demetrius Day, in their case.) I was very
grateful for this stellar treatment, as I am used to freelance, DIY travel in these parts.

In Nis, I gave a lecture on Canada and Its Problems (their choice of topic)in which I discussed the
implications of the last federal election with its heavy emphasis on Canadian "values." Then I was
interviewed for local radio. But the big celebratory event was dinner in one of the city's several rustic
restaurants, all of them with truly good cooking, if of a limited repertoire, namely grilled meats, fresh
cabbage salad, ajvar (red pepper relish), "raising-hell" cheese spread and cornmeal cakes, all
washed down with Macedonian or Montenegrin red.

The Belgrade Book Fair is a phenomenon. Apparently, it draws several thousands of people, by the busloads,
from all over ex-Yugo, but especially from Serbia. Now, this is not a big country anymore, and a
generation has grown up with video games and CNN, but still they pack in to the Fair, where every publisher
under the sun has their wares on display and for sale: besides the Serbian houses, there were some from
Croatia, Slovenia and Sarajevo, Switzerland and France, UK, Turkey and a very lonely USA booth.
Bibliomania. How unCanadian.

It's hard for me to say whether Belgrade has changed again since my last visit 3 years ago. I haven't had
much chance to wander around it this time. But there is a first-ever "Treasures of Belgrade" travel guide,
more cars than ever, including SUVs (the NGO community, I suppose), god-awful gridlock in the
afternoons, big yellow buses, "a gift from the people of Netherlands," the usual mobs in the cafes and bars,
the still-unrepaired bombed-out government buildings on Kneza Milosha....There is still a lot of bitterness
about Kosovo and the post-bombing cock-up there, including the virtual ethnic cleansing of Serbian
villages, and a lot of unhappiness with the current political leadership on display in the federal
parliament. My friend Milan, an astute political analyst, explained to me on a restaurant napkin (in an
excellent restaurant in Zemun, where I had the specialite de la maison, turkey in a gorgonzola sauce
with an exquisite sort of egg noodle) - explained how some 60% of the population finds itself unrepresented
politically. According to his sociological surveys, the large majority of Serbs are social democrat in
attitude and values but the political parties are almost all right of centre, the left being terrified
of association with "Communism" or "nationalism." He says it's the job of the upcoming political generation
to build a party for this mass of would-be social democrats (think: NDP). Good luck to them.

I will have 2 more days in Belgrade when I return from Skopje and before I leave for Edmonton on Oct 30, and
I will hope to see friends involved, variously, in publishing, human rights work, the Centre for Cultural
Decontamination, and others who are family friends. At the end of all that, I should be feeling updated one
more time on this irresistible, to me, part of the world.

Affectionately,
Myrna

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=====
Myrna Kostash
110, 11716 - 100 avenue
Edmonton AB T5K 2G3 Canada
tel. (780) 433-0710
check out www.writersunion.ca
www.dooneyscafe.com