VLADIMIR PIŠTALO

Vladimir Pištalo was born in Sarajevo in 1960.

He grew up in Mostar, Kraljevo and Belgrade, where he finished a primary school and a Gimnasium. He studied Law in Belgrade and Sarajevo . He got his PhD in World History and American History at the University of New Hampshire in the United States.

He was exposed to books before he was born. His mother worked in the library and from the library she went to the hospital to give birth. His father was a Librarian at the National Library in Bosnia. Currently he is a Librarian at the National Library of Serbia.

As a writer he is interested in psychology of individual people and cities. He translates history into a language of poetry. If his prose did not contain two spices - poetry and humor - he would not be interested in writing it. He believes that well perceived and sharply expressed detail provides us with a gate to the other world,

Pištalo published his first story in a magazine when he was 18 and his first book when he was 21. As a student, he co-established the literary group "Belgrade Manufacture of Dreams". He has published 14 books of fiction ranging from poetic prose to novels [ “Picture Book”, “Nights”, “Manifestoes”, “The end of the century”, “Korto Malteze”, “Stained glass memories”, “Aleksandrida”, “Stories from around the world”, “Millennium in Belgrade”, “Tesla, portrait among masks”, “Venice”, “The Sun of This Day: a Letter to Andric”, The Meaning of the Joker” and “The Poem about three worlds” ] His stories have been included in all major anthologies of Serbian prose.

His book “Tesla, Portrait With Masks” was translated in 20 languages.

His novel “Millennium in Belgrade” is translated in ten languages.

A prominent Sarajevo critic once exclaimed that: “Pištalo knows everything. He is a thinking poet, able to tell a good story.” Jean Cristoff Busson of Le Figaro called Pištalo “an artist with a rare literary gift”, while Le Monde ‘s Rene de Ceccatti asserted that Pištalo provided us with an: “ unique Serbian voice, resounding and urban and new...” Ceccatti added that: “we are happy to have found such a careful deeply educated storyteller with an ironic note who, in a unique, frequently hallucinatory manner, describes the last decade of the 20th century in the city he identifies with: Belgrade, that is me!”

Pištalo got a “Milos Djuric” award for his translation of the poems of Charles Simic. His novel "Tesla portrait with masks" was awarded the NIN literary award, the most prestigious literary award in Serbia, for best novel. It also got the Award of the People’s Library of Serbia for the most read book in the libraries of Serbia in 2009. He got the Mesa Selimovic and Bora Stankovic awards. Parts of his novel about Tesla are included in school curriculum for high schools in Serbia. He is a Yaddo, Mac Dowell and Civitella Ranieri fellow. His novel "Millennium in Belgrade" was a finalist for "Prix Femina" award for the best translated novel in France among 700 translated novels in 2008.

Pištalo still believes that: Reality is an ore from which, when rinsed, we get dreams.

BORIS DEŽULOVIĆ

Boris Dežulović was born on November 20, 1964, in Split. He began his journalism career in 1977, editing school newsletters and working as layout artist of the magazine Omladinska iskra, where he published his first article in 1987. From 1990, he worked as a journalist for Nedjeljna Dalmacija and then as a war-reporter and commentator for Slobodna Dalmacija.

In 1988, Dežulović, alongside Viktor Ivančić and Predrag Lucić, co-founded the satirical supplement of Nedjeljna Dalmacija, Feral Tribune, which later became an independent satirical-political weekly. He left Feral in 1999 and became a columnist for Globus and other publications under Europa Press Holding. Since 2015, he has been writing for Novosti, the weekly magazine of the Serbian National Council.

Dežulović has been also a contributor and regular columnist for many Balkan regional media, from Ljubljana-based Slovenian daily Dnevnik and the N1 portal, and has written for numerous other regional media outlets. He has been named Journalist of the Year by the Croatian Journalists' Association twice (2004 and 2022) and won the 2014 European Press Prize Commentator Award.

He is the co-author of several prose collections and monographs and the author of the screenplay for the documentary film Builder's Diary (2007) by Jasmila Žbanić. His novels include Christkind (Durieux, 2003), Jebo sad hiljadu dinara (EPH, 2005), Pjesme iz Lore (Durieux, 2005), Poglavnikova bakterija (VBZ, 2007), a book with short stories Poglavnikova bakterija (VBZ, 2007), and the novel for children and youth Život i snoviđenja slavnog žohara Zaštomira (Ex Libris, 2023). He has also published collections of sports stories and essays Diego Armando i sedam patuljaka (VBZ, 2011), Bili libar (Telegram, 2022) and Bili libar 2 (Telegram, 2023), and the book of religious commentaries Summa Atheologiae: Nekoliko heretičkih rasprava o nemogućnosti Svemogućeg (Ex Libris, 2019). He compiled selections of newspaper columns in the collections Ugovor s đavlom (VBZ, 2008), Crveno i crno (VBZ, 2010), Zločin i kazna (VBZ, 2010), Rat i mir (VBZ, 2012) and U potrazi za izgubljenim vremenom (Tabahon, Skoplje, 2013), and a four-volume selection of columns Kod Kože - Derviš i smrt, Goli i mrtvi, Krik i bijes i Razum i osjećaji (Art Rabic, Sarajevo, 2022).

Dežulović has curated selections of his columns in several volumes and edited the Anthology of Contemporary Croatian Stupidity (Biblioteka Feral Tribune, 1999) with Predrag Lucić, and he edited Libret našeg malog porta Miljenka Smoje (Ex Libris, 2024).

His works have been translated into multiple languages, including German, Italian, French, English, Greek, Polish, Ukrainian, Slovenian, and Macedonian.

He currently lives in a small fishing village between Trieste and Dubrovnik, where he illegally distills brandy, makes wine, fishes, and occasionally writes.

RENE KARABASH

Rene Karabash (Irena Ivanova, 1989) is a writer, a scriptwriter and a poet.

For her leading role in the film Godless she won a number of Best Actress awards at European festivals: a Silver Leopard at Locarno, an Aluminum Horse at Stockholm, The Heart of Sarajevo at Sarajevo, etc.

Rene’s debut novel She Who Remains won the prestigious Elias Canetti literary award and was nominated for Novel of the Year Award and the Peroto National Literary Award.

In December 2023, the novel’s French translation by Marie-Vrinat Niklov was awarded the French PEN Аward. An English excerpt (in translation by Izidora Angel, USA) from the title was awarded the Gulf Coast Journal’s 2023 Translation Prize. She Who Remains is already published in Arabic, French, Polish, Bosnian and Macedonian, with rights sold in Brazil, USA, Italy, Serbia and Greece. A cinema adaptation of the novel is on the go. The movie will be shot in 2025 in co-production with Albania, Germany, Italy and Romania.

Rene is the scriptwriter of the upcoming in 2025 drama series We, the waves– the latest production of the Bulgarian National Television. She is the founder of The Rabbit Hole — a creative writing academy, which enrolls as instructors some of the most prominent writers in Bulgaria.

MIKE,DOWNEY

Mike,Downey is an author, film maker, and activist. As a non-fiction writer, Mike has published on a wide range of subjects and has garnered a vast archive of collected writings in publications from ¼>gue to Varielj', from Screen to Stills to Cineaste, having co-founded the Moving Picmres media publishing group in the nineties. As a film maker he has worked with writers like James Ellroy, Gunter Grass, Colm Toibin, Lee Hall, David Grossmann and Vice founder Shane Smith, as well a an eclectic range of directors including Agnieszka Holland, Volker Schloendorff, Peter Greenaway, Oliver Hirschbiegel, and Mohsen Makhmalbaf. As Chairman of the European Film Academy he is the co-founder of the International Coalition for Fi1m Makers at Risk and for a decade was a Trustee of the White Ribbon Alliance. Former Thomas Ewing Visiting Professor of Film at Ohio

University, in 2021 he became the Honorary President of the LUX Film Award, presented by the European Parliament, and in the same year he was he was awarded an O,B.E. in the Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to British Cinema. In 2022 the University of Warwick presented Mike with a Doctor of Literature degree, howris causa (D.Litt.), for his contribution to World Cinema.

ISTRIA GOLD marks his debut as a.novelist.

NENAD ŠAPONJA

Nenad Šaponja (1964, Novi Sad), poet, essayist, literary critic whose verses are recognizable in contemporary Serbian poetry due to their stylistic perfection, hermetic quality and metaphysical insight.

In the area of literary criticism, he promotes postmodern poetics and idiosyncratic interpretation of literary works, which entails living in literature. He was a literary critic for Politika for ten years, and in 2002, he started his own publishing house, Agora Publishing House.

Books of poetry: Œokonda (Mona Lisa, 1990), Odrazi varke (Reflections of Illusions, 1993),

Oåevidnost (Obiousness, 1996), More (The Sea, 1998), Åetiri poeme (Four Poems, 2000, 2001), Slatka smrt (Sweet Death, 2012), Postoji li dodir tvoje duãe? (Does the Touch of Your Soul Exist?, 2014), Izgledam, dakle nisam (I Seem, Therefore I Am Not, 2017), Silazim u tiãinu tega baåene kocke (I Step Down into Silence of the Weight of Rolling Dice, 2019), Psihologija gravitacije (The Psychology of Gravitation, 2023) and Sreñna voda (Happy Water, 2024).

Books of essays and reviews: Bedeker sumnje (A Baedeker to Doubt, 1997), Autobiografija åitanja (An Autobiography of Reading, 1990), Iskustvo pisanja (The Experience of Writing, 2001, 2002).

Book of travelogue: A Brisel se dâ prehodati lako (But Brussels can Easily be Covered on Foot, 2018)

He also compiled several anthologies: Antologija savremene novosadske priåe (Anthology of Modern Stories from Novi Sad, 2000), Antologija stare novosadske priåe (Anthology of Old Stories from Novi Sad, 2003), Prosvetina knjiga krimi priåe (Prosveta’s Book of Crime Stories, 2003), Pavle Ugrinov, from the series: Deset vekova srpske knjiæevnosti (Ten Centuries of Serbian Literature – Pavle Ugrinov, 2013).

He has received the “Branko’s Award” for the book Mona Lisa, “Miroslav Antiñ Award” for the book I Seem, Therefore I Am Not, followed by the “Prosveta Award” for the book A Baedeker to Doubt, and the “Milan Bogdanoviñ” Award for literary reviews. For the book The Psychology of Gravity he received the “Koåiñevo pero”, “Teodor Pavloviñ”, “Stevan Peãiñ” and “Laza Kostiñ” awards.

MAJDA KOREN

Majda Koren (1960) is writing mostly for kids and young adults. In Slovenia, she received the most prominent prizes for children literature: večernica and Levstikova award.
In Slovenia, she is best known for the stories about little monster Mitzi. She has some books translated in foreign languages: Cook me up a fairy tale, Stop rain soup and most popular: comic books about two pigs - thieves, called Pick and Pocket (Kapo in Bundo in Slovene language). The comic books have been translated into Croatian, Catalan, Spanish, Italian, Polish, French and English languages.

VIOLETA TANČEVA-ZLATEVA

Violeta Tančeva-Zlateva (25.04.1968, Borievo, Strumica) has graduated in Yugoslav literature at the Faculty of Philology in Skopje. She writes poetry, short stories, novels and essays. She has been a Member of the Macedonian Writers’ Association since 2000, and also the Proofreaders’ Association of Macedonia. She works as a proofreader and editor at “TRI” Publishing Center, Skopje.

She has published the following prose books: short stories A book of the Dream, 1992; novel Coming back, 1993; stories On my way to Borievo, 1999; Colourful letters, 2008 (an epistolary novel for children), Stories from the last century, 2022, novel Bella Sama, 2023; and the books of poetry: My Picasso, 2007 bilingual edition in Macedonian and English (and a Macedonian – Serbian edition in 2008, Zadužbina “Petar Kočić” – Banja Luka – Belgrade); Prisoners of silence, 2010; Fiery, 2011; Our story, 2013; A summerless year, 2015; The Road, 2018; On the edge of the world, 2021; Time goes by, 2021; Deaf Time, 2023.

She has won the “Miladinov Brothers” Award presented by Struga Poetry Evenings in 2015, the “Aco Shopov” Award presented by the Macedonian Writers’ Association in 2018, and in 2022 she won the “Antev Zlatnik” Award presented by the International Poetic and Cultural Event “Ante Popovski – Antevo Pero” for her poetry book Deaf Time. Her poems are represented in several selections, panoramas and anthologies. Also, her poems and short stories have been translated and published in several magazines in Serbian, Montenegrin, Slovenian, English, Bulgarian, Albanian, Romanian, Russian, Тurkish, German languages.

ZVEZDAN GEORGIEVSKI

Zvezdan Georgievski was born in 1961 in Jesenice, Slovenia. He has worked as a journalist in numerous Macedonian print media outlets: Nova Makedonija, Puls, Utrinski Vesnik, Globus... He is one of the founders of Kanal 4, the first private radio station in Macedonia. He is the founder of the award Novel of the Year (“Roman na Godinata”) that was initially awarded by the daily newspaper Utrinski Vesnik; and is now awarded by the Slavko Janevski Foundation, a Macedonian foundation dedicated to the advancement and promotion of cultural values.

He is the author of published works: A Week in the Life and Death of Grozdan (novel, Templum, 2016); Urban Toponyms (collection of essays, Templum, 2018); So I Don't Fall Behind (collection of short stories, Prosvetno Delo, 2018); You Cry Like a Whale (novel, Begemot, 2023) and Based on Almost True Events (collection of essays, Begemot, 2024). He has authored screenplays for short and mid-length documentaries about Skopje; and has translated works from the languages of the former Yugoslav republics into Macedonian. He is currently the executive director of the Slavko Janevski Foundation.