Zlata's Diary is a book by Zlata Filipović

Zlata Filipovic

Zlata Filipović is a Bosnian writer and author of the book Zlata's Diary.From 1991 to 1993, she wrote in her diary about the horrors of war in Sarajevo, through which she was living. Some news agencies and media outlets labeled her the "Anne Frank of Sarajevo"...

, who was a young girl living in Sarajevo

Sarajevo

Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....

 while it was under siege

Siege of Sarajevo

The Siege of Sarajevo is the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare. Serb forces of the Republika Srpska and the Yugoslav People's Army besieged Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, from 5 April 1992 to 29 February 1996 during the Bosnian War.After Bosnia...

 in 1992.
Zlata wrote her diary (whom she called Mimmy) from 1991 to 1993 during the Bosnian war

Bosnian War

The Bosnian War or the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between April 1992 and December 1995. The war involved several sides...

. She starts the fifth grade in the beginning of 1991 and she reunites her friends and her family. The war begins just before her eleventh birthday. It chronicles her daily life as war has an increasing impact on her city. She has been described as the Anne Frank

Anne Frank

Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank is one of the most renowned and most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Acknowledged for the quality of her writing, her diary has become one of the world's most widely read books, and has been the basis for several plays and films.Born in the city of Frankfurt...

 of Sarajevo and, like The Diary of Anne Frank, it contains many descriptions of the horrors of war as viewed from the innocence of a child. The parallels are further aided by the fact that the war Zlata lives through is motivated by ethnic and religious differences.

The introduction is by a reporter named Janine di Giovanni and she writes that "I first met Zlata in the summer of 1993 when someone came up to me and told me about a girl being called the 'Anne Frank of Sarajevo'."

The official birthday of Zlata is December 3rd

In 1992/1993, her diary got published and was released for the UNICEF week. This made her an instant celebrity in Sarajevo. Towards the end of 1993, she and her parents were transported to Paris.
Her diary has also been adapted into a choral work by Anthony Powers. The choral work was premiered by the Highcliffe Junior Choir and is featured on their CD One Small Voice.