Suada Kapić receives Susan Sontag Award for documenting Sarajevo siege

Suada Kapić, the founder and director of FAMA International, has been awarded the 2026 Susan Sontag Award for critical thought. The international recognition was unanimously decided by a jury including David Rieff, Haris Pašović, and representatives of the Susan Sontag family.

Kapić received the award for her decades of work documenting life in Sarajevo during the siege from 1992 to 1996. Through FAMA International, she led systematic efforts to record daily existence in the besieged city, creating significant archives such as the ‘Sarajevo Survival Guide’ and the ‘Sarajevo Survival Map 1992–1996’.

The award honors intellectual and moral courage, specifically recognizing individuals who maintain fact-based and uncompromising critical thinking when life and freedom are at risk. The prize is named after the American intellectual Susan Sontag, who famously showed solidarity with Sarajevo by living in the city during the siege in 1993.