He held the Chair of French Literature at the University of Zagreb and is currently associate professor of the Department of Slav Languages and Literature at Rome's La Sapienza University. He is the President of the Mediterranean Laboratory Foundation in Naples, International Vice-President of the Pen Club in London, a member of the "group of experts" of the European Commission in Brussels and a founding member of the Sarajevo Association in Paris and Rome.
Predrag Matvejevi? studied Roman and Classical Philosophy at the universities of Sarajevo and Zagreb. He took his PhD in Comparative Aesthetics at the University of Paris III.
His works, written in Croat and in French, are a denouncement of the fratricidal war and ethnic cleansing in the Former Yugoslavia; the best-known include: Ces moulins à vent (1977), Lettres ouvertes-exercices de morale (1985), La Yougoslavité d'aujourd'hui (1982), Mediterranean: A Cultural Landscape (1987) -French edition in 1993, and winner of the Prize for Best Foreign Book 1999 (France), Ch. Veillon European Prize (Switzerland), Malaparte Prize (Italy)-, Entre asile et exil (1995), Le miroir de la mer Méditerranéenne (2002) and L'autre Venise (2003), European Strega Prize (Italy). He has been awarded the Legion of Honour by the French government.
