Photo: Sasa Kovačič
Ambitious contemporary prose about migration, exile, identity, dysfunctional families and social dystopia. Dimkovska complexly analyzes the question of belonging and the eternal search for self.
Biography
Poet, novelist, and translator Lidija Dimkovska was born in 1971 in Skopje, North Macedonia. Now she lives in Ljubljana, Slovenia and translates Romanian and Slovenian literature in Macedonian. She has published seven books of poetry, four novels, one American diary, and one short stories collection. She edited an anthology of young Macedonian poetry, an anthology of contemporary Slovenian poetry in Macedonian, and two anthologies of contemporary minority and immigrant writing in Slovenia. For her poetry she received the Macedonian award for debut (1993), the German prize “Hubert Burda” (2009), the Romanian prizes “Poesis” (2002) and “Tudor Arghezi” (2012), the European prize “Petru Krdu” (2016), the Slovenian prize “The Glass of Immortality” (2020), the Macedonian/Albanian prize “Naim Frasheri” (2020) and the Macedonian prize “Brothers Miladinov” (2021).
Her novels “Hidden Camera” (2004) and “A Spare Life” (2012) received the award of Writers’ Association of Macedonia for the best prose book of the year and “A Spare Life” received also the European Union Prize for Literature (2013). Her last novel “Personal Identity Number” (2023) received the highest Macedonian Novel of the Year Award and the regional feminist literary award “Stefica Cvek” (2024).
Her work was also nominated for the Best Translated Book Award (the USA, once for poetry and once for prose), the Poet of the Freedom (Poland), the Brucke Berlin Prize (Germany), the Specimen Prize (Switzerland), the Balkanika Award, the MIRA Award (Slovenia) etc. Her books have been translated into 16 languages (English, German, Polish, Hungarian, Slovak, Czech, Romanian, Serbian, Slovenian, French, Croatian, Italian, Albanian, Bulgarian, Greek and Latvian) and are in proces of translation in Ukrainian and Amharic. She has participated at numerous international literary festivals and readings and was a writer-in-residence in Iowa, London, Berlin, Vienna, Graz, Salzburg, Bucharest, Krems, Tirana, Okinawa, and Split.
Her upcoming book “Monthly, Monthly”, scheduled for release by the end of 2025, marks her debut in children’s literature – a delightful tale crafted to enchant the imaginations of young readers.
Outstanding title:
А SPARE LIFE (2012)
“A Spare Life” is an original story about two Macedonian Siamese twins joined at the head and their struggle for individuality, privacy and a life of their own. The novel is personal, political and historical narrative about the time we live in and the people we identify with. This was the title that brough the EU Prize for Literature in the hands of Lidija Dimkovska in 2013.
No. of pp: 368
Awards and honors:
- European Prize for Literature in 2013
- Award of Writers’ Association of Macedonia for the best prose book (2013)
- Nominated for the Best Translated Book Award in the USA (2016)
Rights sold to:
England, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, Germany, Hungary, Czech Republic, Greece, Romania, Albania, Serbia, Ukraine (forthcoming) and Ethiopia (forthcoming).
Latest title:
PERSONAL IDENTITY NUMBER (2023)
“Personal Identity Number” illuminates in all of its tragedy, one of the individual and collective destiny situations so characteristic of our era: the experience of exile. This book had acquired with three editions in a very quick time frame and apart from the attention of the audience, it also received the attention of the critics who turned to it with the best reviews.
No. of pp: 310
Awards and honors:
- Novel of the Year Award for 2023
- Winner of best feminist and queer literature award “Štefica Cvek” for 2024
Rights sold to:
Slovenia, Bulgaria, Albania, Croatia, Greece (forthcoming) and Italy (forthcoming).
Sample in English available HERE
Rights:
TRI Publishing Centre
tri@kniga.mk
+389 2 3245 622