F.Y.I.

Ennis Cehic makes his literary debut in Sadvertising

Advertising professional and writer Ennis Cehic has debuted his first book, Sadvertising, a collection of 50 short stories set in the world of advertising published by Penguin Random House Australia.

The announcement:

About the author

Born in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1984, Ennis Ćehić migrated to Australia in 1997 from Germany, where he and his family lived as refugees following their exile from the Bosnian War of the 1990s.

His writing focuses on ideas of displacement, creativity and existentialism. His work, including essays, fiction and memoir, has been published in a variety of Australian literary journals and publications. He is the author of New Metonyms, a literary photography book about his homeland released with photographer Shantanu Starick in 2020.

In 2018 Ennis was selected as an inaugural recipient of the Wheeler Centre’s Next Chapter writers scheme by judges Christos Tsiolkas, Benjamin Law, Maxine Beneba Clarke and Ellen van Neerven. He was mentored by Nam Le.

Since 2007, he has been working in the advertising industry as a copywriter, brand strategist and creative director. He lives and works between Melbourne and Sarajevo.

Long story short

This electrifying debut collection of 50 funny, fantastical stories traverses culture, genre and form. Each story is a literary serotonin hit and fresher than the latest TikTok trend — imagine Black Mirror meets Gruen meets George Saunders.

In the mind-bendingly upside-down world of Sadvertising, you will meet a group of copywriters who dream of being poets; a disillusioned sales executive who overthinks his think piece; Kendall Jenner and her publicist responding to the fallout from her infamous Pepsi commercial; and many other unforgettable characters trapped in the simulacrum of 21st century existence.

Ennis Ćehić brings a migrant’s ‘outsider’ perspective to stories brimming with contemporary ennui and alienation. Sadvertising interrogates what it is to be both Extremely Online and deeply human, bringing brands to life and throwing readers into a hyperreal, ultra-mediated culture.

Filled with absurdity, late-capitalist critiques and existential angst, Ćehić’s slyly subversive fables use pitch-black humour, satire and surrealism to address the worlds of advertising, consumerism, technology and the absurdity of the modern condition.

Source: Penguin Random House Australia media release

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