Mihajlo Sviderski
Mihajlo Sviderski (1991) is a Macedonian prose writer and а poet. He is the author of the novels "White and Red" (2014) - winner of the "Novite" award for best debut prose manuscript, "The Last Days of Hans" (2019) - nominated for the European Union Prize for Literature (EUPL) in 2020 and finalist for the "Novel of the Year" award for 2020, "The Sons of Adam" (2022) - winner of the "Literary Circle" award for best prose achievement, and "Aragon" (2025) - nominated for the "Racin’s Recognition" award. He is the author of several poetry books. His works have been translated into several languages.
Aragon
"Antolog", Skopje, 2025
The Sephardic Jews live a peaceful life until they are confronted with the cruelty of
war. Allegra, trapped in a loveless marriage, dares to run away with her lover Yeshua,
but their forbidden love ends tragically when her husband, Rahamim, kills Yeshua.
Young Eliezer, who accidentally escapes deportation, finds love in the arms of the
Christian Maria. The story is intertwined with the courage of Nesima, a Muslim
woman who risks everything in those difficult times to save Allegra and Eliezer.
Sometimes, even in the most difficult moments, there are moments of happiness.
Some members of the organization "Hashomer Hatzair" leave for the promised land
shortly before deportation, through illegal channels, and thus they will be saved.
This extraordinary novel with a mosaic of stories is a moving testimony to the strength of the human spirit, to the tragedy of war and to the hope that is born in the darkest times.
“The novel has a lavish, dynamic, playful style; a language that corresponds to the world it depicts, creating it faithfully and thoroughly down to the smallest detail; but what is especially important, this novel possesses aesthetic, literary, philosophical values that express the eternal dilemmas and questions about the relationship between darkness, fear, death, destruction, on the one hand, and the triumph of light, the glory of faith, hope, life, on the other.”
Frosina Parmakovska