Photo: Nebojša Babić
Bužarovska writes with the unwavering gaze of someone who sees it all. Fearless, she opens doors illuminating everything that lies within.
Biography
Rumena Bužarovska (b. 1981) is a writer, literary translator and social commentator. The author of four volumes of short stories translated into more than fifteen languages, her book “My Husband” has received critical acclaim in Europe (named book of the week in the German weekly “Spiegel”, declared one of the most impressive books of the year 2022 in France after its publication by “Gallimard”) and has been adapted into six stage productions (Skopje, Ljubljana, Athens, Belgrade, Zagreb and Budapest). In 2024, he published his debut novel, “Tony”, which quickly garnered remarkable success. A second edition was released within just one month, followed by a third edition currently available in bookstores across the country. International rights have been sold in seven countries, most notably to the esteemed French publisher Gallimard. Other territories include Spain, Greece, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, and Croatia. She is the author of two non-fiction books: the essays “Next to God, America” (2024) and a study on humor in contemporary American and Macedonian short fiction (2012). Bužarovska is a literary translator from English into Macedonian, having translated author such as J.M Coetzee, Lewis Carroll, Truman Capote, Flannery O’Connor and Iain Reid. In 2016 she was selected as one of the Ten New Voices of Europe by Literary Europe Live platform within Literature Across Frontiers, she is the 2017 winner of the regional Edo Budiša prize awarded by the Istria County in Croatia, is the recipient of the 2018 Fall Residency at the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa and a fellow of the Landys und Gyr Stiftung in Switzerland (2022). She was named Author of the Year by the Association of Macedonian Publishers in 2021. Bužarovska is also co-initiator and co-organizer of the “PeachPreach” women’s storytelling event in North Macedonia and co-host of the “Radio Mileva” feminist podcast. She is a professor of American literature and translation at the State University in Skopje.
Rumena Bužarovska’s prose cuts clean through the façade of everyday life—unsentimental, astute, and laced with dark humor. Her stories delve into the tender fault lines of intimate relationships, exposing how societal expectations shape the lives of couples, parents, and children. Through piercing irony and emotional depth, her protagonists navigate the complexities of a region caught in ongoing economic turbulence, patriarchal constraints, and the lingering gaze of Western cultural dominance.
Outstanding title:
MY HUSBAND (2014)
Counting eleven editions in Macedonian, this collection of short prose contains eleven stories in first-person narration by married women who are seemingly speaking about their husbands, but in fact revealing much more about themselves and the devastating way patriarchal society treats them. Deeply tragic, but also comic due to the way Bužarovska treats subjects that society deems taboo, this book is a staple of feminist reading and a classic among Balkan audiences.
No. of pp: 152
Awards and honors:
- Edo Budiša Award (2016)
- Longlisted for 2025 Angelus Central European Literature Award (final results forthcoming)
Rights sold to:
England, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Poland, Greece, Hungary, Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Portugal (forthcoming)
Translation available:
English
Rights:
Latest title:
TONY (2024)
Tony is the anti-hero of our time. He is a middle-aged former rocker with a mundane government job who lives with his mother after a string of failed relationships. Bužarovska skillfully and mercilessly reveals all the cracks in his character: selfishness disguised as freedom, irresponsibility as authenticity, childishness as a life philosophy. Tony is a novel about the perils of masculinity and tradition. An uncomfortably truthful and devastatingly precise study of society and its delusions, Tony is written in Bužarovska’s distinctive style: sharp, bitter and brutally funny.
No. of pp: 260
Awards and honors:
Winner of best feminist and queer literature award “Štefica Cvek” for 2025
Rights sold to:
France, Greece, Spain, Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia and Albania.
Translation available:
English