"The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SANU) informs the public with great sadness that on February 6, 2026, in Novi Sad, at the age of 82, Academician Miro Vuksanović (Krnja Jela, May 4, 1944), one of our most prominent writers, passed away. In addition to his rich literary work, his immeasurable contribution to Serbian culture is also reflected in his fruitful editorial work and the launch of significant editions. He also made a great contribution to the development of librarianship in Serbia.

He completed elementary school in his hometown and the Higher Real Gymnasium in Nikšić. He graduated in 1969 from the Faculty of Philology in Belgrade, from the Group for Yugoslav and General Literature.

He worked as a professor of Serbian language and literature at the Technical School center in Sombor (1970-1975), where he served as assistant director for two years. He was the director of the City Library "Karlo Bijelicki" in Sombor (1975-1988). During that period, the Library's collection was increased by one hundred thousand books. He launched the Library's publishing activity and was its editor. He edited the magazine "Dometi" (deputy editor-in-chief 1974-1978, editor-in-chief 1979-1988). He also edited the publishing activity "Ravangrad" (1979-1988).

He was the director of the Matica Srpska Library from 1988 until his retirement in 2014, when he was elected president of the Board of Directors of this institution, where he launched and edited several book series, and the multi-volume catalog of the collection of old Serbian books and legacies is especially significant. Vuksanović's managerial work in the oldest Serbian library of national importance is illustrated by the fact that its electronic catalog, with millions of records, is the basis of the Virtual Library of Serbia (COBISS system), that it has a large digital library and an organized system for the protection of cultural property. He renewed the Library's Yearbook, launched the "Traces" edition, the edition on donors and other publications. He was also the editor of the five-language "Bibliography of Books in Vojvodina". He edited the "Catalog of Serbian Books in Vienna in the 18th Century" and more than 150 exhibition catalogs, as well as a large number of volumes of the Library's catalog. For his work in librarianship, he received the following republican awards: "Milorad Panić Surep" (1996), "Zapis" (2007), "Đuro Daničić" (2009) and "Janko Šafarik" (2014). He received the October Award of Sombor in 1986.

He was a member of the Board of Directors of Matica Srpska (1988–2008); Vice President of Matica Srpska from 2004 to 2008. He provided the basic concept of the Publishing Center of Matica Srpska. Since 2008, he has been the editor-in-chief of the Publishing Center of Matica Srpska, within which he launched the Anthology Edition "Ten Centuries of Serbian Literature", which was awarded the Special Award at the International Belgrade Book Fair in 2014 as "the most far-reaching undertaking in Serbian publishing". As the editor-in-chief of this unique edition, together with his collaborators, he significantly contributed to a clearer identification of the corpus of Serbian literature from Saint Sava and oral literature to contemporary Serbian literature. He also edited the "Matica" Publishing House, where leading contemporary Serbian writers publish their books upon invitation. He was the editor of "Njegoš's Collection of Matica Srpska".

He was elected a corresponding member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in 2009, and a full member in 2015. He became the director of the SANU Library in 2011. He was the editor of the SANU Library Tribune, within which he launched the annual of the same name with texts delivered at book presentations and scientific proceedings. He was the editor of the SANU editions: "Introductory Speeches of Serbian Academics (1886–

– 2019, 2020, 2021), "Academic Speeches" (since 2016), "Introductory Lectures of Corresponding Members" (since 2019) and "Bibliographies of SANU Members" (since 2019). Within the Academy, he was the chairman of the Academic Committee for Historiography and Publishing Academic Discourses (since 2019), the Academic Committee for Culture and Arts (2018–2020) and the Committee for the Study of the History of Literature (2014–2019), as well as a member of the Committee for the Etymological Dictionary of the Serbian Language and the Academic Committee for the Serbian Question. He was a member of the Executive Board of the Novi Sad Branch of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (since 2011) and the chairman of the Board of Directors of the Serbian Language Institute of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. He was also a member of the Editorial Board of the "Serbian Encyclopedia", published by the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Matica Srpska and the Textbook Institute.

Since 2003, he has been a member of the Editorial Board of the "Serbian Biographical Dictionary". He has written more than 150 lexical contributions and edited texts within his editorial competence.

He edited the books "Laza Kostić in Sombor" (1980), "Ravangrad" by Veljko Petrović (1984), the book of conversations "Characters of Milan Konjović" (1991), "Chronicle" by Stevan Raičković (2007), the anthological scientific publication "Petar II Petrović Njegoš" (2010), "Serbian Dictionary or Alphabetical Novel: Literary Parts of the First and Second Editions (1818, 1852)" by Vuk Stefanović Karadžić (2012), the anthology "Milovan Đilas" (2013), the anthology "Njegoš, Two Centuries" (2013), "Digitized Njegoš, First Editions of Njegoš's Works" (a unique edition in 11 books on 1508 pages), the anthology "Miodrag Bulatović" (2016) and other publications.

He served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Andrić Foundation from 2016 to 2025. He was the initiator and Chairman of the Editorial Board of the "Critical Edition of the Works of Ivo Andrić" (since 2016), the editor-in-chief of the "Bibliography of Ivo Andrić" (2011–2021) and the journal "Volumes of the Ivo Andrić Foundation" (2019–2025).

He was also a member of the Board of Directors of the Miloš Crnjanski Foundation (2007–2012), Vice-President of the Vuk Foundation and a member of the National Council for Culture (since 2011, President 2014–2015).

His fruitful literary work has given rise to a rare opus in Serbian literature, among which the following titles stand out: "The Curse of Peko Perkov" (1977), "The Mountain of Semolj" (2000), "The Earth of Semolj" (2005), "The People of Semolj" (2008), "From Everywhere" (2008), etc.

He has received many awards and recognitions for his literary work, including: the "Politika" Award for a story (1975), the "Miroslavljevo jevanđelje" Award for the best prose book in Yugoslavia for the period 1997-2000, the Vuk Foundation's Art Award (2000), the Prosvetina Award for Prose (2000), the "Borbina" Award for the Book of the Year (2001), the Book of the Year Award of the Writers' Association of Vojvodina (2002), the "Laza Kostić" Award for narrative prose (2005), the NIN Award for the best novel (2005), the "Meša Selimović" Award for the best book in the Serbian language (2005), the "Branko Radičević Statuette" of Branko Kolo (2010), the Lifetime Achievement Charter of the Writers' Association of Serbia (2012), Stojan Novaković Award (2012), Veljkova Golubica Award for overall narrative creativity (2015). For “special results achieved in creative work on the spread of culture, education and science in the Republic of Serbia”, he received the Vuk Award (2004).

His departure is a great loss for the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts and Serbian literature and culture.”

Source: SANU