Dr. Sheila Sofrenovic (born 1940 in Essex, England) is an Englishwoman married to a Yugoslav whom she met in the U.K. during postgraduate studies. She moved to Yugoslavia in 1969 and has lived continuously in Belgrade since then, witnessing a lot of changes in the country.
Though she earned a first degree and doctorate in French ( sbject of thesis: "The Existentialist Theatre of Jean-Paul Sartre"), she has spent her working life teaching English (at Belgrade University, on Yugoslav television, etc.) or translating into English - a wide variety of texts over a number of years. Before taking early retirement at the start of 1998, she spent 10 years with the British Council, Belgrade as Head of Library & Information Services for the region (Yugoslavia, Macedonia, and Albania). She intends to spend her retirement actively - "doing what I like" - writing, translating, teaching, broadcasting, acting, and directing.
Husband - retired engineer; daughter, son-in-law, and son - all busy actors. Though colleagues at adjacent faculties, Professor Pavic and Dr. Sofrenovic never crossed paths while at the university. A great admirer of Pavic's work, however, Dr. Sofrenovic was pleased to be asked to translate Damascene, which she thoroughly enjoyed.