Welcome! Thank you for being here.
It is hard for me to say precisely who I am and what I do. The truth is that all of the following are parts of my identity. I am a co-founder of the Mali bilingvali language camp, a translator, the author of the blog on bilingualism “Lena Writes” and a mum to two bilingual children.
My interest in bilingualism and heritage language maintenance in the diaspora started when I became a mum in London. As my children, Klara and Oliver grow, my wish to grow and develop in this field grows, too. Therefore, I read, learn and make daily efforts to overcome new language challenges life throws in front of us.
I created this blog back in May 2020, as I wanted to turn experiences of our then young bilingual family into words. I continued writing about our bilingual story, supplementing the writing with the literature that to this day gives me guidance on how to proceed with this journey. My aim here is for those who read the blog to understand that they are not alone, that language maintenance within the diaspora is hard, extremely emotional but indeed very possible.
Having seen that the role of the community in heritage language maintenance is necessary and that parents need support, in 2024 I lead a project together with the Serbian school in London “Sveti Sava” to welcome Jelena Angelovski, the author of the novel “Mika” to London. This project enabled us to hold a book promotion and a discussion on heritage language maintenance in front of the London based diaspora. In addition, we organised two workshops with Jelena for the students of “Sveti Sava” school. Both events were held in October 2024 in London.
In July 2025, I started the project “Mali bilingvali” with my sister-in-law in Belgrade. Mali bilingvali is a camp in Serbian language for children aged three to eight who are growing up in the diaspora. Our mission is to help parents and grandparents further improve Serbian with their children who are growing up outside of Serbia. We know very well how present the dominant languages are in our children’s lives abroad and this is why Mali biligvali exist: to provide a creative and fun classroom experience in the Serbian language and create stronger emotional attachment to the language.
I hold an MA in English Language and Literature from University of Belgrade and MA Communications Management from London Metropolitan University. I live in two addresses, in two countries, but my home is forever in Belgrade