Ivanovski writes about the common man and, with bitter humor and self-irony, depicts with cruel realism the time and world we live in.
Biography
Born 1961 in Skopje. Poet, translator, author of nineteen poetry collections: Way Such Liver For Me (1995), The City is Full of You (1997), A Strange Kind of a Sunny Day (1999), Three Forward Three backwards (2004), Double Album (In the Shadow of the Billboard and Ice-cream Infinitely) (2005), Siesta Thirst (2007), Whistling in the Wind (2009), With Straw in a Mouth (2011), Morning Cinema (2015), The Sea Is Up to My Knees (2016), The City that Is no Longer Mine (2016), Freehand (2017), Let me finish playing (2018), Human (2019), All and nothing (2021), Life at The Mezzanine (2023), A small coin on a dirty sidewalk (2024), The Sun is expensive (2025).
He has also published two collections of selected poems in Macedonian, three in English, and several in Slovenian, Serbian, and Croatian. His poetry has been translated into fifteen languages and included in numerous anthologies of contemporary Macedonian poetry, both in Macedonia and abroad, such as Six Macedonian Poets (Arc Publications, UK, 2011).
In addition to poetry, he works as a columnist, a screenwriter for the TV show Speak Macedonian, and a lyricist for music. He has participated in many literary festivals and residencies across Europe.
Outstanding title:
HUMAN (2019)
“Jovica Ivanovski is a poet who is an alert and lucid observer of reality, a poet who knows how to be brutally honest and open with himself and with others, a poet who, with rock-and-roll rebelliousness, rejects conformism, false glitter, and trendy opportunism that dominate our time. These qualities of his poetry run through all of his books, and especially through the entire book ‘Human’.” – Vladimir Martinovski
No. of pp: 96
Awards and honors:
- “Miladinov Brothers” award at the Struga Poetry Evenings in 2019.
Latest title:
THE SUN IS EXPENSIV (2025)
“It is no coincidence that the poet is often called a painter with words, a hunter of the most minute moments of life. In Ivanovski’s verses, small, seemingly insignificant fragments of reality pulse, which he skillfully, allusively, and metaphorically visualizes in a striking way. The title of the book alludes to an undeniable truth, one that carries multiple meanings and a distinctly humanistic dimension, characteristic of the author’s previous poetic works as well. We are all ‘treading in place,’ ‘circling’ around the same ball, around the same sun, ‘the same, because we are human.’ Ivanovski’s message—that we are all the same under the sun, or that the sun shines equally for all—advocates for humanism of the highest order” – Lidija Kapushevska-Drakulevska
No. of pp: 95
Rights:
Jovica Ivanovski
jovica_ivanovski@yahoo.com
+389 76 427 404