Andrej Nikolaidis (Montenegrin Cyrillic: Андреј Николаидис; Greek: Ανδρέας Νικολαΐδης; born May 7, 1974) is a Montenegrin and Bosnian novelist, columnist, and political adviser. His novel Sin (The Son) won the European Union Prize for Literature in 2011. The English version was published in 2013 by Istros Books in the United Kingdom.
From October 2009 to February 2014, he served as an adviser to Ranko Krivokapić, speaker of the Montenegrin Parliament. He is currently a columnist for the Montenegrin internet portal CDM.
Biography
Nikolaidis was born and raised in Sarajevo, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SFR Yugoslavia, in a family with Montenegrin and Greek heritage. In 1992, after the start of the Bosnian War, Nikolaidis’s family moved to Ulcinj, a town in Montenegro, where his father was born and owns a summer house. A strong supporter of Montenegrin independence, an anti-war activist, and a promoter of human rights, especially for minorities, Nikolaidis became known for his political views and public disagreements. He appeared on local television and in newspapers, sharing sharp political opinions. His articles for Monitor and Slobodna Bosna caused controversy, and he received threats, including death threats, after writing about “facing the past.” During a radio show on Radio Antena M, a listener said on air that he would kill Nikolaidis.
Nikolaidis has written four novels in Montenegro and Croatia: Mimesis (Durieux, OKF, 2003), Son (Durieux, 2006), The Coming (Algoritam, 2009), and Till Kingdom Come (Algoritam, 2012). He has also published collections of short stories, including The Cathedral in Seattle, Why Mira Furlan?, and A Short History of Madness, as well as a cultural theory book titled Homo Sucker: The Poetics of Apocalypse. In 2012, two of his novels, The Coming and The Son, were published in English by the UK publisher Istros Books. In 2014, a German version of The Coming, titled Die Ankunft, was published by Voland & Quist. His first novel, Mimesis, was widely praised in Croatia, Bosnia, and among liberal Montenegrin intellectuals. Local independent media compared his writing style and attitude to that of Thomas Bernhard. He wrote columns for pro-independence publications, including the daily newspaper Vijesti, the weekly newsmagazine Monitor (from 2002 to 2009), the weekly newspaper Crnogorski književni list, and the Bosnian weekly newsmagazine Slobodna Bosna. He now lives in Ulcinj, Montenegro.
On October 15, 2009, it was announced that Nikolaidis accepted a job as an adviser to politician Ranko Krivokapić, who had been the speaker of the Montenegrin Parliament since 2003 and the honorary president of SDP CG, a small liberal party without parliamentary representatives. The announcement came a few weeks after Krivokapić publicly supported Nikolaidis while criticizing the Montenegrin Supreme Court’s final decision in the Kusturica vs. Nikolaidis case. Nikolaidis resigned from this position in February 2014.
Controversy
On May 28, 2004, Nikolaidis wrote a strongly worded article titled "Dželatov šegrt" (Executioner's Apprentice) for his regular column in Monitor weekly magazine. In the article, he criticized film director Emir Kusturica, calling him one of the "biggest media stars of the time when Milošević's war propaganda supported people who had something stupid but patriotic to say and created news for people who ignored human suffering, did not see their own guilt, and were finally foolish enough to believe in their own righteousness."
Kusturica later sued Nikolaidis for libel. In November 2004, the primary court (Osnovni sud) in Podgorica, led by Judge Evica Durutović, ruled in favor of Kusturica and ordered Nikolaidis to pay €5,000 in damages. However, in December 2005, the higher court (Viši sud) overturned this decision and sent the case back to the lower court for a new trial.
In late November 2007, the primary court again ruled in favor of Kusturica after a re-trial. Nikolaidis appealed this decision, and in April 2008, the higher court upheld the lower court's ruling, requiring Nikolaidis to pay the damages. In response, individuals from Bosnia and Herzegovina, including actor Emir Hadžihafizbegović and journalist Šemsudin "Šeki" Radončić, raised money to help Nikolaidis pay the fine.
In an article published on January 11, 2012, titled "What is Left of Greater Serbia," Nikolaidis wrote: "What would be a true civilized step in Bosnia and Herzegovina? Clearly, to let global, super-state, and super-national institutions place justice above pragmatism and the ethics of profit, and if needed, use force to abolish Republika Srpska. […] A civilized step would be if Bole used dynamite and rifles he hid in a ballroom where leaders, spiritual people, and artists celebrated the 20th anniversary of Republika Srpska's existence."