Aleksandar Hemon

Aleksandar Hemon is the author of The Lazarus Project, which was a finalist for the 2008 National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award, and three collections of short stories: The Question of Bruno; Nowhere Man, which was also a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; and Love and Obstacles. He was also a co-scriptwriter for The Matrix Resurrections. Born in Sarajevo, Hemon visited Chicago in 1992, intending a brief visit, but while there, Sarajevo came under siege, and he was unable to return home. He started writing shortly thereafter and was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2003 and a genius grant from the MacArthur Foundation in 2004. He lives in Chicago with his wife and daughter, and performs music as Cielo Hemon.