CROATIA
Kristian Novak (1979) is a Croatian writer, linguist and university professor. He is a member of the Society of Writers in Croatia and the Croatian Society for Applied Linguistics. He has published four novels so far.
He was born in Germany as a child of Croatian workers, and spent his childhood in the north of Croatia. He studied German at the faculty in Zagreb, but in addition to his studies, from 1996 to 2009, he was also a member of the Croatian national karate team, with whom he won a large number of individual and team awards at national and international competitions, including European vice-champion in karate for 2006.
In 2005, he published his debut novel "Hanged". His second novel "Dark Mother Earth" (2013) received the "Tportal" award for the best Croatian novel of the year and was declared one of the best novels in Croatian literature in the last fifty years. In addition to literary success, Novak's novels also became famous on the theater stage. "Dark Mother Earth" was also adapted into a play for the "Youth Theater" in Zagreb, experiencing huge success. His novel "Gypsy, but the most beautiful" is also set on the theater stages, but this time in the Croatian National Theater. For this work, he was awarded the "Gjalski" prize – a prestigious award given for the best prose work in the Republic of Croatia. In addition to the success in the theater, a script is in the works for "Gypsy, but the most beautiful", after which a television series will be filmed.
After the publication of the novel "A case of Own Destruction", a play was made in co-production between the Croatian National Theater from Varaždin and the Croatian National Theater "Ivan Zajc" from Rijeka. His works have seen a number of foreign editions.
He lives in Zagreb with his wife and three children.
„“It seems to me that dialect is associated with me with the heart and emotions, while I associate standard language with the brain and the rational. I don't believe that every book is for every age... We have to have a critical reader, not a reader who will be protected from all unpleasant scenes."
Črna mati zemla (Dark Mother Earth)
Translation to Macedonian: Sašo Ognenovski
PNV Publications, Skopje, 2021
A powerful and, at times, painful story about the young and successful writer Matija, who tries to overcome a creative and a love block, a process that will lead him to painful and repressed childhood traumas. The life filled with lies and false memories suddenly takes a turn, so Matija will have to face the ghosts of the past.
Ciganin, ali najljepši (Gypsy, but the most beautiful)
Translation: Vladimir Jankovski
, "Goten", Skopje, 2021
One of the most awarded Croatian novels in recent years. Difficult to frame it in a genre because it can simultaneously be read as a crime novel, a love story, a social critique, a philosophical novel about how things really are as they seem. The protagonists of this novel make up an intriguing gallery of characters that we recognize from our fears in everyday life. A masterful way to weave it all into a story.