Matija Divković

Franciscan and writer. In 1611 he authored and published the first printed book in Bosnia & Herzegovina, “Nauk krstjanski za narod slovinski (Christian Doctrine for the Slavic People)”. He would go on to publish four works in total by 1616. The significance of his work is even greater when we consider the fact it was authored in western Cyrillic (bosančica) and that no bosančica moulded characters were available at the time. He travelled to Venice, carefully designing the characters with master craftsmen, eventually printing the masterpiece. He is widely considered to be the founder of Bosnia and Herzegovina literature.