Venko Andonovski (1964) is a Macedonian novelist, short story writer, playwright, critic, and professor at the "Blaze Koneski" Faculty of Philology. To date, he has published 42 books across various genres. His notable works include Frescoes and Grotesques and Taming the Bitch (short stories); Alphabet for the Disobedient, The Navel of the World, , The Witch, The Mathematician’s Daughter and The Navel of Light (novels); Rebellion in the Retirement Home, The Slavic Ark, Candide in Wonderland, , The Genetics of Dogs, Lead on a Pillow, The Fall of Masada (plays); There Is One for Everyone and The Master of the Cuckoo (comedies). His works have been translated into 15 languages. His prose, in Macedonian alone, has been printed in over 70,000 copies. Around 150,000 viewers have seen his plays, some of which have been performed for years, with nearly 100 showings. He is also the author of a dozen books on criticism, essays, and literary and cultural theory. Andonovski has received all major Macedonian awards for prose, drama, and criticism, as well as several international recognitions (from the first, the "Balkanika," to the latest, the Tolstoy Literary Prize "Yasnaya Polyana"). He is a member of the Writers' Association of Macedonia, the Macedonian PEN Center, and a corresponding member of the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts (MANU).