Lidija Dimkovska


Lidija Dimkovska, born 1971, is a Macedonian poet, novelist and translator. She was born in Skopje and studied comparative literature at the University of Skopje. She proceeded to obtain a PhD in Romanian literature at the University of Bucharest. She has taught Macedonian language and literature at the University of Bucharest and world literature at the University of Nova Gorica in Slovenia.
Dimkovska was also an editor at Blesok, the online Macedonian literary journal. She now lives in Ljubljana, working as a freelance writer and translator of Romanian and Slovenian literature. She has dual Macedonian/Slovenian citizenship.

Work

In her native Macedonian language Lidija Dimkovska has published seven books of poetry, three novels, one American diary, and one collection of short stories. She has edited an anthology of young Macedonian poetry, an anthology of contemporary Slovenian poetry in Macedonian, and two anthologies of contemporary minority and migrant writing in Slovenia.
Lidija Dimkovska's books have been translated into 15 languages.
She has taken part in numerous international literary festivals and has been a writer-in-residence in Iowa, London, Berlin, Vienna, Bucharest, Graz, Salzburg, Krems, Tirana, Okinawa, and Split.
Between 2016 and 2019, Lidija Dimkovska served as the president of the jury for the Vilenica International Literary Prize in Slovenia, and between 2013 and 2016 she was a member of the international jury for the Zbigniew Herbert International Literary Award in Warsaw, Poland.
Poems, excerpts from her novels, essays, interviews and reviews about her books have appeared in The Times Literary Supplement, American Poetry Review, World Literature Today, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, The Rumpus, Tin House, The Paris Review, The Literary Hub, Foreword, The White Review, Asymptote, Publishers Weekly, BBC World Service, Words Without Borders, Columbia Journal, Los Angeles Review, Boston Review and Poetry International, among other publications.

Poetry

Рожби од Исток – 1992 Огнот на буквите – 1994 Изгризани нокти – 1998 Нобел против Нобел – 2001 Идеална тежина – 2008 pH неутрална за животот и смртта – 2009 Црно на бело – 2016 Гранична состојба– 2021

Poetry in translation

In English:
  • Do Not Awaken Them With Hammers
  • pH Neutral History
  • What Is It Like?
In German:
  • Anständiges Mädchen
  • Schwarz auf Weiss
In French:
  • Comment c'est et Autres Poèmes
In Romanian:
  • Meta-Spânzurare de Meta-Tei
  • Diferentă
In Slovenian:
  • Nobel Proti Nobelu
  • pH Neutralna za Življenje in Smrt
  • Črno na Belem
In Croatian:
  • Кako je To?
In Polish:
  • pH Neutralna Wobec Žycia i Šmierci
In Serbian:
  • Најближе Најдаљем
In Albanian:
  • ''Tash Dhe Ketu''

Prose

Скриена камера novel, 2004
Резервен живот novel, 2012
Но-Уи novel, 2016
Кога заминав од Карл Либкнехт collection of short stories, 2019

Prose in translation

In English:
A Spare Life, novel, translated into English by Christina E. Kramer, Two Lines Press, San Francisco, the USA, 2016, longlisted for Best Translated Book Award 2017
In German:
Reserveleben
In Polish:
Skrita Kamera
Non-Oui
In Italian:
Vita di Scorta
In Romanian:
Viata de Rezerva
Camera Ascunsa
In Slovenian:
Skrita Kamera
Rezervno Življenje
Non-Oui
In Croatian:
Rezervni Život
Skrivena Kamera
Non-Oui
Kad Smo Napuštili Karla Liebknechta
In Bulgarian:
Скрита Камера
Резервен Живот
Но-Уи
In Slovak:
Skryta Kamera
In Czech:
Nahradni Život
In Latvian:
Slepta Kamera
In Serbian:
Скривена Камера
Резервни Живот
In Albanian:
Kamera e Fshehte
Jete Rezerve
In Hungarian:
''Tartalek Elet''

Journals

Отаде Л. Американски дневник – 2017

Anthologies

  • 20.млади.м@к.поети.00
  • Современа словенечка поезија
  • Iz jezika v jezik
  • ''Biće bolje – Bože''

Awards and nominations

  • Macedonian Writers' Association Award for the Best Prose Book of the Year for her novel 'Hidden Camera'
  • Hubert-Burda-Preis für junge Lyrik
  • Tudor Arghezi international poetry prize in Romania
  • The Macedonian Writers' Association Award
  • The EU Prize for Literature
  • The Petru Krdu European Poetry Prize
  • Brücke Berlin Preis
  • Best Translated Book Award
  • Poet of Freedom Award, Gdansk, Poland
  • Best Translated Book Award 2017 in the USA for her novel 'A Spare Life'
  • shortlisted for The Macedonian Writers' Association Award for the Best Prose Book of the Year for her novel 'Non-Oui'
  • shortlisted for the Balkanika International Literary Award for her novel 'Grandma Non-Oui'
  • Special Mention by European Cultural Heritage for the cycle of five short stories from her collection 'When I Left Karl Liebknecht'
  • National Endowment for the Arts Translation Fellowship for Christina E. Kramer for the translation of Lidija Dimkovska’s novel 'Non-Oui'
  • shortlisted for a cycle of five short stories from her short stories collection 'When I Left Karl Liebknecht' for the Specimen Prize 2020 in Switzerland
  • shortlisted for The Macedonian Writers' Association Award for the Best Prose Book of the Year for her short stories collection 'When I Left Karl Liebknecht'
  • The Cup of Immortality Award, Slovenia
  • the Macedonian/Albanian Naim Frasheri International Poetry Award“Naim Frasheri”
  • Браќа Миладиновци of the Struga International Poetry Evenings
  • shortlisted for the Macedonian Ацо Шопов Award for the Best Book of Poetry
  • shortlisted for the MIRA Prize of the Slovenian PEN Centre