Petar Kočić (Cyrillic - Петар Кочић) (1877 — 1916) was Serbian poet and writer.

Like Borislav Stanković who was self-made and successful poet of Slavic South, like Ivo Ćipiko who was poet of seaside - Kočić was poet of Bosnian mountains and fresh life of his area.

He was born in Stričići , village near Banja Luka. He attended primary school in Gomjenica Monastery, where his father became priest when his wife died. He started his gimnasium education in Sarajevo, but because of expressing his Serbian nationality, he was expelled from 3th grade, and went to Belgrade, where he finished gimnasium. He studied Philosophy in Vienna. In 1904 he came back to Serbia, and for a short while he was a teacher in Skopje. Two years later, he lives in Sarajevo, as a clerk of publishing company "Prosveta" , but after a while he was fired for taking a part in a worker's strike, and banished to Banja Luka.

Before Austrian occupation of Bosnia, he founded a magazine "Fatherland", in Banja Luka, and forms his political group, which advocated fight against Austria, and especially fierce strugle against remains of feudal slavery. As a national and social revolutionary, Kočić was favoured among peasants, and advanced youth, so he was elected as a member of Bosanski sabor (Bosnian parliament), in Sarajevo. Austria recognized Petar Kočić as serious enemy, so they prosecuted and arrested him. Before the WWI he started to express nervous breakdown, so he was brought to Belgrade for treatment. He died in Belgradian mental hospital during Austrian occupation. In Bosnia, he was the most brave motivator of national pride, and preacher of social justice.

Kočić wrote three collections of tales named From Mountain, and Under The Mountain (С планине и испод планине), Howls From Zmijanje (Јауци са Змијања), and two political-social satires: Badger on Tribunal (Јазавац пред судом) and Trials (Суданија), first in a form of play, and second in a form of dialogue.

(according to edition of "The History of Yugoslav Literature" - "Историја југосл. књижевности", by Ðorđe Anđelić, Belgrade, 1938)

External links

• Petar Kočić: works I-IV