Stanko Uyi Srsen

was born in 2007, in Zagreb, Croatia. As the child of an African mother and a Balkan father, he has always been interested in injustice and other social issues, and incorporates these themes into his short stories and poems. Assigned to write a story on the topic of love during wartime for a creative-writing class, he turned to the current conflict in Gaza and the atrocities being committed against Palestinians. He wanted to represent one of the more vulnerable groups in the territory, and made the main characters in “The Cockroaches” a same-sex couple despite fears that his classmates might not understand. His teacher liked the story and sent it to LiDraNo, a Croatian writing competition, where it was accepted for the first round of the competition. The comments from the jurors were that it is interesting that there are young people writing about politics, however the story didn’t make it to the competition’s second round.