Jagna Pogačnik, Jutarnji list on What We Fall in Love With

Simić has shown not only great storytelling know-how in handling demanding narratological models, but also exceptional maturity and strength to convincingly write down what’s hardest to do – the unsaid. (…) To speak in silence and about silence, whilst building excellent stories, can only be done by the best.
 

Miljenko Jergović Awarded The Leipzig Book Award for European Understanding for 2026.

Croatian writer Miljenko Jergović has been awarded the prestigious Leipziger Buchpreis zur Europäischen Verständigung for 2026, for his book "Three for Kartal. Sarajevo Marlboro Remastered".

The prize is being awarded to Jergović for his short story collection "Three for Kartal. Sarajevo Marlboro Remastered", published in 2022 by the Croatian publishing house Bodoni. The book received the Fric Award and has already been translated, or is currently being translated, into a dozen European languages.

In Germany, the collection was published in 2024 under the title "Das verrückte Herz" by the renowned publishing house Suhrkamp, in a translation from Croatian by Brigitte Döbert.


In its statement, the jury notes that the award is being given to Jergović, “who, with great and unwavering clarity, examines the fracture lines of the Western Balkans’ history. Whether in sweeping family panoramas spanning generations, off-beat road narratives, or reflective portraits of fathers and sons, wartime experience always forms the core of these stories.”

The jury further emphasizes that the Siege of Sarajevo, the city in which the author was born in 1966, is the central theme of his latest collection – a work that simultaneously converses with and reinterprets his early, now cult book "Sarajevo Marlboro".

The Leipzig Book Award for European Understanding, one of the most significant literary awards in Germany and Europe, has been presented since 1994 to writers whose work fosters dialogue, exchange, and mutual understanding among European cultures. Past laureates include Ryszard Kapuściński, Imre Kertész, Svetlana Alexievich, Claudio Magris, Timothy Snyder, Mircea Cărtărescu, among many others.

The award ceremony will take place on 18 March 2026, at the opening of the Leipzig Book Fair.

 
Photo: (c) Anto Magzan
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ivica Đikić-works/transl

MAIN WORKS:

Circus Columbia (Cirkus Columbia), novel – award Meša Selimović for the best fiction book in Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro in 2003
Patriotic turnaround political biography of Stipe Mesić (Domovinski obrat), biography
Gotovina – Reality and Myth (Gotovina – stvarnost i mit), biography
I Dreamed of Elephants (Sanjao sam slonove), novel – Croatian Telekom Award for the best novel in 2011
Rest of the World (Ostatak svijeta), poetry
Şarik Tara – A Life (Šarik Tara – život), biography
Repetition – A Love Story (Ponavljanje – ljubavni roman), novel
Srebrenica, A Story of Evil (Beara, Naklada Ljevak, 2016), novel
Apparition, (Ukazanje, Fraktura, 2018), novel
Talking Sticks (Štapići za pričanje, Fraktura, 2020), stories
The Wild Yeast (Divlji kvas, Fraktura, 2024), novel
Budimir Lončar. Before and After the End (Budimir Lončar: Prije i poslije kraja, Fraktura 2025), biography



 
TRANSLATIONS:

Circus Columbia: Italy (Zandonai), Spain (Sajalin)
I Dreamed of Elephants: Germany (Antje Kunstmann Verlag), Hungary (Európa Kiadó)
 

 

 

 

Moderna vremena on The Age of Brass

The Age of Brass is a grand story of two people who have lived their lives in the age of extremes and their descendant with a legacy of a not-so-happy-childhood, and with the task to make do with this heritage. (…) The Age of Brass is also an epic river with a lot of affluents, sleeves and driftwood, on a difficult journey towards its faraway estuary.
 

Boris Postnikov, Novosti

The elementary essayistic skill – to be both concise and abstract at the same time – Milošić has brought to perfection. 55 Easy Pieces are a colorful collage made of curiosity, educated playfulness, and most important, of pure joy. Worth reading again and again. A rarity.

 

Jurica Pavičić wins the Meša Selimović Literary Award for the novel Matchsticks

The prestigious regional Meša Selimović Literary Award for the best novel published in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, and Serbia in 2024 has been awarded to Jurica Pavičić for his novel "Matchsticks", a gripping story about a devastating wildfire on the outskirts of the city of Split that gradually unfolds into a haunting investigation of personal and collective guilt.

The Croatian selector Jagna Pogačnik nominated the novel for the award, while the winner was chosen by a jury chaired by Semezdin Mehmedinović, with Emir Imamović, Mirjana Đurđević, Pavle Goranović, and Ljubica Letinić serving as members.


The novel has received exceptional critical acclaim as well as strong readership response. A fourth edition was recently released, following the book’s initial publication in April 2024 by Croatian publisher Stilus. At its core lies the story of a catastrophic wildfire near Split, which sets off an investigation that slowly exposes deeper layers of both collective and individual responsibility. Through a blend of Mediterranean noir and family drama, Pavičić masterfully portrays the complexities of human relationships and the social dynamics that shape them.

"Matchsticks" has resonated with both readers and critics. It was a finalist for the T-portal Award, as well as for the newly established regional UPiT Award for Best Thriller, which recognizes novels published in 2023 and 2024 in Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Foto: (c) Stilus

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

El Pais

Even though that in Djikić's first novel the reviewers found influences of Fellini and Kusturica, it is much more likely that it is about the mark of the middle European writers, such as Ödon von Horvath.

Kirkus Reviews on The Silk, the Shears and Marina

The Silk, the Shears recounts Vrkljan’s life as it spans the tumultuous political upheavals of the century - from her childhood in interwar Belgrade, to her adolescence in Zagreb, and her adult life as a writer in Zagreb and Berlin. For those familiar with the former Yugoslavia, Vrkljan’s writing is piercing, vividly capturing the feel of strained intimate personal relations and public life.
 

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