Savo Heleta

My name is Savo Heleta. Originally from Bosnia and Herzegovina, I have lived on three continents in the last decade – Europe, North America, and Africa.

I am the author of "Not My Turn to Die: Memoirs of a Broken Childhood in Bosnia" (AMACOM Books, New York, March 2008). In the book, I give a testimony about the suffering in my childhood during the Bosnian civil war in the 1990s and demonstrate personal struggle and search for the strength to choose peace, reconciliation, and hope over hatred and revenge.

Financial Times’ review notes that “This powerful book shows how difficult it is to make peace after a conflict, not least peace among neighbors.”

The International Crisis Group calls the book “a gripping and compelling story of the nobility of good and banality of evil… a fascinating piece of memoir literature from Bosnia.”

Andrew Himes, the executive director of the Voices in Wartime Education Project says the book is “an eloquent testimony to the human capacity for compassion and forgiveness. Only by hearing the personal stories, like Savo’s, from witnesses to the terrible trauma and lasting damage of war, can we imagine how to create a culture of peace.”

I hold a Masters degree in Conflict Transformation and Management from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. My primary research interests are conflicts within states, deep-rooted conflicts, conflicts over basic human needs, and negotiations that can bring lasting peace.

In the last two years, I have conducted a number of research projects and written and published extensively about Sudan and Darfur in newspapers and magazines in Sudan, Europe, and the United States. My research papers on Darfur and Sudan have been listed on the website of the Chr. Michelsen Institute, an independent center for research on international development and policy from Norway, as some of the essential readings on the current conflict in Darfur.

Visit www.savoheleta.com for more info.