Biografija Abmasadorke Rebublike Srbije
VIDA OGNJENOVIĆ, writer, playwright, theatre director, was born in Dubočke, Nikšić ( former Yugoslavia). After the elementary school in Vrbas and secondary school in Sremski Karlovci, she graduated from the University of Belgrade (Dept. of Literature and Languages) (1963) and from the Academy of Theatre, Film and Television (1965)
She enrolled in post-graduate studies at Sorbonne in Paris and earned her M.F.A. degree in directing at the Unirvesity of Minnesota, U.S.A. (1972). From 1974 until 1979 she was Assistant Professor at the department of Drama of the University of Arts in Belgrade. In 1977 she was artistic director of the National Theatre in Belgrade and when her four-year term expired, she stayed on as director in residence, playwright and acting General Manager ( 1990 - 1993 ) Theatre. She taught and lectured as a visiting profesor and lecturer at several major US universities ( UCLA, UIC, BERCLEY, STANFORD, 1982, 1985, 1991, 1997, 1998, 2001).
Vida Ognjenović has directed close to one hundred theatre plays and many television and radio production. Her theatre work includes productions for a number of theatres in Yugoslavia as well as abroad. She has directed diverse plays, but almost invariably with a very special touch of her own.
She has also written eight plays all of them frequently produced in different theatres whith a long run.
Vida Ognjenović has won all the important theatre awards: October Prize of the City of Belgrade as the director of Mephisto; Golden Laurel Wreath (MES, Sarajevo) for Mephisto; Golden Turkey (Comedy Festival, Svetozarevo) for the text and direction of Making the Master Laugh; the Award of the Vojvodina Theatre Meetings for direction; Grand Prix for radio direction; Sterija Award for Was There the Prince's Dinnera and the theatre adaptation of Root, Trunk, Epilogue by G. Nikoliš; Joakim Vujić Award for Making the Master Laugh. Vuk Endowment Fund Award for Was There the Prince's Dinner; Sterija Drama award for the best play for Was There the Prince's Dinner, Sterija Award for the best oplay for Yegor's Path, Sterija Award for the best directing for Yegor's Path
She has published four books of plays: Melancholy Dramas (SKZ, 1991) and Sombre Comedies (SKZ, 1994) Collected plays I, ( Stubovi Kulture, 2000) and Collected plays II. She also has published four books of fiction: The Poisonous Milk of the Dandelion (stories, Prosveta 1994), The House of Dead Scents (novel, Prosveta 1995) and The Grandfather's Clock (stories, Prosveta 1996), The best stories by Vida Ognjenovic ( Prosveta, Belgrade 2001).
Her books have won numerous important awards, including the Andrić Award (1995), Branko Ćopić Award (1996), Prosveta Award for Book of the Year (1994), Laza Kostić Award for the novel (1996), Karol Szirmay Award for stories (1996), Stefan Mitrov Ljubisha Award ( 1999), Paja Marković Adamov Award for fiction (1997).
Her plays and fiction have been translated into English, German and Hungarian. Vida Ognjenović lives and works in Belgrade.