Matija Bećković Biography

Matija Bećković OSS (Serbian Cyrillic: Матија Бећковић, pronounced ; born 29 November 1939) is a Serbian writer and poet. He is a full member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts.

Bećković was born in Senta, in the multiethnic province of Vojvodina (then Danube Banate, Kingdom of Yugoslavia), to a military family of Montenegrin Serbs. He graduated from the Valjevo Gymnasium in Valjevo in 1958. It was during his gymnasium years in Valjevo that he published his first poem, in the journal 'Mlada Kultura'. Furthermore, it was also in Valjevo that Bećković met Vera Pavladoljska, to whom the poem of the same name, published in 1960, was dedicated. Beckovic went on to marry Pavladoljska, and he remained married to her until her death.

Upon graduating from the Valjevo gymnasium, he entered the University of Belgrade, graduating with a degree in Yugoslav and world literature. He became a corresponding member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in 1983, becoming a full member in 1991.

Bećković is a close friend of Serbian former Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica, and an active supporter of his Democratic Party of Serbia.

He has been living in Belgrade since 1960. On the Montenegrin independence referendum, 2006, Bećković did not have a right to vote since he lives in Serbia. However, as a prominent Serb nationalist he fiercely advocated against Montenegrin independence, actively supporting the losing option during the pre-referendum campaign.

A distinguishing feature of Bećković's poetry is its regionalism. Distinctly Serbian archaic dialect and phraseology permeate his work. This aspect of his work is most often lost when one reads it in translation.