Porter Square Neighbors Association

Hemon was born in Sarajevo. He and his family fled Bosnia soon after the violence began in 1992. They left behind not only relatives but a comfortable middle class existence. Hemon settled in Chicago due in large part to its substantial Bosnian population. He has assimilated through his passion for soccer and by teaching English to other immigrants. Before he became the success he is today he worked assiduously at his writing and knowledge of English. He wrote his first story in English in 1995 and has now completed three books. The first was a story collection, The Question of Bruno followed by Nowhere Man a novel. His third is also a novel The Lazarus Project.

Hemon has been a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and the winner of a MacArthur Foundation "Genius" grant. He has worked to nurture an understanding of cultural differences having lived through a very strange journey himself. His work appears regularly in The New Yorker, Granta, The Paris Review, and Best American Short Stories.