Call Me Esteban

With unapologetic vividness, Lejla Kalamujić depicts pre- and post-war Sarajevo by charting a daughter coping with losing her mother, but discovering herself. From imagined conversations with Franz Kafka to cozy apartments, psychiatric wards, and cemeteries, Call Me Esteban is a piercing meditation on a woman grasping at memories in the name of claiming her identity.

“Stylish and brisk, these stories refuse to wallow in tragedy, becoming instead a convincing testament to the consolations of art.” —Publishers Weekly starred review

'There’s an immediacy to Lejla Kalamujić’s writing in Call Me Esteban, a haunting portrayal of what it means to live in a society that’s been fragmenting for the vast majority of one’s life. The staccato prose and rapid-fire sentences on display help to further those ideas, as well as giving a sense of the narrator’s anxiety—an experience that takes this book even further into a haunting space.' — Tobias Carroll, Words Without Borders

'Playful yet piercing, these linked stories weave queer identity with the bitter aftertaste of the Balkan wars... Kalamujić takes autofiction to the next level.' —Hamilton Cain, Oprah Daily

Lejla Kalamujic is an award-winning queer writer from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Jennifer Zoble translates Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian and Spanish language literature. She is a Clinical Associate Professor at the Interdisciplinary Liberal Studies program at NYU.