Having experimented with fiction writing towards the end of her undergraduate English Literature and Philosophy degree, Tamara decided to undertake the MA Creative Writing at Bath Spa University to refine her short story writing skills. After thoroughly enjoying the course, she intends to embark on a Creative Writing PhD. In the meantime, she continues to work as a marketing executive while editing her short story collection in her spare time.
This extract has been selected from ‘Timeline’, a short story from Tamara’s collection in progress, which overall takes place in Sarajevo, Bosnia, around the time of the 1990s Balkan War. Though each story offers various layers of the political and historical aspects of the war, the real focus lies with the intricate portrayal of domestic life, complex family relationships, the city and culture of Sarajevo, and the strange nature of memory. ‘Timeline’ particularly explores the conception of linear time against the fragmented character of particular memories, and the often disjointed arrangement they can take in the mind.
Tamara-Cmiljic