'Pretty Birds': A Sarajevo Story

By Scott Simon

Published May 3, 2005 at 12:00 AM EDT

The cover of Scott Simon's debut novel, <i>Pretty Birds</i>. — The cover of Scott Simon's debut novel, *Pretty Birds*.

Scott Simon, host of NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday, talks about his debut novel, Pretty Birds.

For Simon's first work of fiction, he drew on his experiences reporting on the war in Sarajevo in 1993.

The story centers on a young Muslim woman who becomes a sniper during the height of the siege of Sarajevo in the early 1990s.

Scott Simon

Scott Simon is one of America's most admired writers and broadcasters. He is the host of Weekend Edition Saturday and is one of the hosts of NPR's morning news podcast Up First. He has reported from all fifty states, five continents, and ten wars, from El Salvador to Sarajevo to Afghanistan and Iraq. His books have chronicled character and characters, in war and peace, sports and art, tragedy and comedy.

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