Career
She is credited with establishing Sarajevo"s first school for girls on 19 October 1858. The following year, she became the first published woman author in Bosnia. Skenderova was born in about 1830 in Sarajevo to immigrant parents from the Serbian town Prijepolje.
Her older brother sewed for the Ottoman Army, and Skenderova learned the Turkish language at a young age and taught herself to write.
She was ordained in Jerusalem in 1870. Her life ended tragically and violently in May 1891.
Upon enjoying some entertainment in Ilidža, a horse-drawn carriage rushed into the crowd and Skenderova was severely wounded. She was cared for by friend Mission Irby but died of her injuries soon after.
Irby arranged the funeral and Skenderova was buried in Sarajevo.