US promotion of "Tesla, A Portrait with Masks"

BELGRADE - The US edition of "Tesla, A Portrait with Masks", a novel by Serbian author Vladimir Pistalo, was presented to the readers in Boston.

One of the best-selling novels in Serbia in the past six years had a successful US launch in Boston's cult bookstore Brookline Booksmith on Thursday, the Serbian publisher Agora said in a release.

The author talked about his novel in front of a packed room, despite the freezing cold in Boston that evening, and was received with great enthusiasm.

Pistalo said that he is very happy to begin his US book tour in the city where the great American writer Saul Bellow spent his final years and to which he feels personal connection.

"Tesla, A Portrait with Masks" was translated into English by Bogdan Rakic and John Jeffries, and published a month ago by Graywolf Press, one of the leading literary publishers in the US.

The novel was translated into 10 languages. In the US, the book was met with strong critical acclaim. Serbian - American author Charles Simic described it as "a modern classic".

"Tesla, A Portrait with Masks" won the prestigious NIN Award in 2008 for the novel of the year, and the award of the National Library of Serbia for the most read book in 2009.

Pistalo is one of the authors included in the elementary and high school literature curriculum in Serbia, and his works were published with great success in all countries of the former Yugoslavia.

Vladimir Pistalo, one of the most significant contemporary authors in Serbia, was born in Sarajevo in 1960. He graduated from the Belgrade Faculty of Laws and earned a PhD from the University of New Hampshire - his thesis dealt with the multiple identity of Serbian immigrants - the Serb, the American and...