Born in Bosnia, Anesa Kajtazovic escaped the Bosnian War as a child in the late 1990s. Her children’s book “Anesa, No Škola Today: A Child’s True Story of Escaping War in Bosnia” delves into this experience. Kajtazovic and her family survived three years in the Bosnian War and refugee camps in Croatia before receiving refugee asylum in 1997 and settling in Waterloo, Iowa, according to her website. Before becoming an author, Kajtazovic served as a representative in the Iowa legislature from 2011 to 2015. She was the first Bosnian American to hold public office in the U.S., and at 23, the youngest person to be elected to the Iowa legislature.
Kajtazovic discusses her book ahead of a tour stop at the Prairie Lights Bookstore in Iowa City on Nov. 4.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
The Daily Iowan: This had to have been a very rough time in your life. What was it like as a child in Bosnia, and what was it like finally sharing your story?
Kajtazovic: When I was only 7 years old, the streets of Bosnia were filled with tanks and machines of war. The sounds of shells exploding and bullets being fired in the distance were a traumatizing experience for me as a young child.
Honestly, it’s an experience that will stick with me and my family for years. Recently, I decided to write a book to describe my experience in Bosnia, and I am on tour, sharing my book across Iowa.
It was an unexpected journey, honestly. I didn’t know I would ever be sharing this. At first, I declined to speak about it at all, but I felt a sort of guilt in not sharing the story. So, I decided to write during the spring of 2020. It began as a two-page essay, but I later revised it several times. It was oddly therapeutic for me to write and to finally get to share my story, so I kept writing.
What is your book based on, and what was fun about the writing experience?
My book is based on real experiences I had. It was a normal life, then it went crazy.
I met with an illustrator to tell my story with pictures, to best capture it. The fun part was bringing parts of my childhood into cartoons, although, at the end of the book, I included real pictures of what was depicted in the cartoons, so they can compare them.
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What was your family’s opinion on you telling your story in this book?
The story was hard to share at first, and I hadn’t even told my family about writing it. My parents had always kept the topic behind closed doors. But I later realized that by sharing my story, I can open the narrative to topics like this.
What is the goal of your story? What are you trying to share with the world?
I want to show that connection to stories is how we can have more compassionate communities, sharing is how we learn from one another, and it is how we grow. Sharing accounts of my life like this is a way that others can gain perspective. Not only for adults, but for younger children to learn about as well.
What else do you hope to share with the world?
I also hope stories like this, and stories that are shaped by war, are ways to plant seeds of peace of hope. Hope and courage are key pieces to my story. Growing from situations that seem impossible to escape, and yet finding the positivity in them, are all reasons why I feel I should keep sharing this story. I hope this book will open conversations among students, children, and adults alike. These experiences change people’s lives forever.
What other insights do you have to share?
My parents always taught me about the future, but there comes a point where we have to face our trauma. Not just ourselves, but also so we can educate and share with others.