Andrej Blatnik was born on May 22nd, 1963,
in Ljubljana, Slovenija, where he studied
Comparative Literhature and Sociology of
Culture and got his Masters in American
Literature and PhD in Communication Studies.
He was a free-lanced
writer for five years, and now he works as
an editor in Cankarjeva publishing house,
teaches publishing studies and is on the
editorial board of the Literatura monthly
since 1984. He is the president of
the jury for the
Vilenica prize since 2007.
So far he has published three novels,
Plamenice in solze (Torches and Tears,
1987),
Tao ljubezni (Closer to Love, 1996) and
Spremeni me (Change Me, 2008), and
five collections of short stories:
Šopki za Adama venijo (Bouquets for Adam
Fade, 1983),
Biografije brezimenih (Biographies of
the Nameless, 1989),
Menjave kož (Skinswaps,
1990),
Zakon želje (Law of Desire, 2000) and Saj razumeš? (You Do Understand, 2009). In
addition to this, he published a collection
of essays on contemporary American
literature, especially metafiction, entitled
Labirinti iz papirja (Paper Labyrinths,
1994), a collection of cultural criticism
Gledanje čez ramo (Looking over the
Shoulder, 1996), a collection of essays
about literature in the digital age
Neonski pečati (Neon
Seals, 2005), and a creative writing manual Pisanje kratke zgodbe (Short Story Writing, 2010).
A short movie was made after one of his
stories and another one was adapted into a
TV drama. He wrote five radio dramas (one of
them was presented at the
Prix Italia and translated in English and
Hungarian) and translated several books from
English, Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar and The
Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles among them.
He won some major Slovenian
literary awards (the award of the city of
Ljubljana, Zlata ptica, the highest
award for young artists, and "Prešernov
sklad" award among them). Several of
his short stories have been translated and
published in magazines and anthologies in English, German,
Spanish, Portuguese, Finnish, Swedish, French, Italian, Hungarian,
Rumanian, Greek, Polish,
Russian, Ukrainian, Czech, Slovakian,
Macedonian, Croatian, Serbian, Albanian,
Turkish, Irish, Arabic and Hindi.
He is included in many anthologies, the latest is Best European Fiction 2010, edited by Aleksander Hemon, with the preface by Zadie Smith.
The translation of his book Menjave kož (Skinswaps,
1990) was published in Spanish (Cambios
de piel, Libertarias/Prodhufi, Madrid
1997), Croatian (Promjene
koža, Durieux, Zagreb 1998) and English
(Skinswaps,
Northwestern University Press, Evanston
1998), Czech (Promeny
kuží,
Periplum, Olomouc 2002), Hungarian (Bör,
Jak, Budimpešta 2002), German (Der
Tag, an dem Tito starb,
Folio,
Vienna 2005) and Turkish (Deri
Degisimi,
Pupa,
Istanbul 2008).
Tao ljubezni was published in Croatian (Tao
ljubavi,
Meandar, Zagreb 1998) and Slovakian (Tao
lasky, F.R. & G., Bratislava 2000).
Labirinti iz papirja was published in
Croatian (Papirnati
labirinti, Hena-Com, Zagreb) and Zakon
želje in German (Das
Gesetz der Leere,
Folio,
Vienna 2001), Croatian (Zakon
želje,
Meandar, Zagreb 2002), Czech (Zakon
Touhy,
Periplum, Olomouc 2004), French (La
Loi du Desir,
AlterEdit, Pariz 2005), Macedonian
(Zakonot
na željata, Magor, Skopje 2005), Turkish (Arzu Yasasi, Pupa, Istanbul 2009) and Spanish (
La ley del deseo, Baile del sol, Tegueste 2010).
The German translation of Spremeni me was published by Folio (Ändere mich, Vienna 2009), the novel is also forthcoming in Croatian and Italian.
The English translation of Saj razumeš?, You Do Understand, was published by Dalkey Archive Press in 2010.
Andrej Blatnik has read fiction in Italy,
Slovakia, Austria, Spain, United Kingdom,
Belgium, France, Greece, Czech Republic,
Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico and the
USA (Poets' House in New York City, Library
of Congress, University of Iowa, Norfolk
State University, Old Dominion University,
Northwestern University, Intersection for
the Arts in San Francisco...) and
contributed in conferences in Austria,
Greece, Portugal, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland,
Romania, Georgia, and the USA. He was a
participant of the International Writing
Program at the University of Iowa, Iowa City,
USA, in 1993, and a guest at the
International Writers Center at the Old
Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia, USA,
in 1995, and Ledig House International
Writers Colony in 1998. He received various
fellowships, including Fulbright, the
Austrian KulturKontakt fellowship, and a
grant from Japanese government. He enjoys
traveling, always on a shoestring. |
