Foreign guests at the Vilenica 2024

Lamija Begagić, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Lamija Begagić: Photo © NOMAD/Dženat Dreković

Lamija Begagić (Zenica, 1980) is a Bosnian writer. She graduated in South Slavic Literatures at the Faculty of Arts in Sarajevo. She writes fiction for adults and young people. She is the editor of the children’s magazines Palčić and 5Plus, the magazine for preschoolers and first graders Kolibrić, and a member of the editorial board of the journal for fair education Školegijum. Together with Marina Veličković, she wrote the handbook for primary school girls Furam feminizam (2018; I Dig Feminism). She has published individual short stories in collections such as Bun(t)ovna p(r)oza (Rebellious Prose) and Poqueerene priče (Queered stories). She has published the short story collections Godišnjica mature (2005; Graduation Anniversary), Jednosmjerno (2010; One Way) and Bolji mi (2019; Better Us), as well as the novel U zoni (2016; In the Zone). She has received several prizes and awards for her literary work, including the Farah Tahirbegović Foundation Special Prize “for her contribution to the development of publishing, literature, librarianship and general culture.”

Lenka Kuhar Daňhelová, Czech Republic

Lenka Kuhar Daňhelová: Photo © Ewa Kotarbińska

Lenka Kuhar Daňhelová (1973) is a poet, prose writer, publicist and translator. She published the novel Cizinci (2004; Foreigners) and several collections of poetry, most recently Hořem (2014; Through suffering) and Jaka neśmrnost? (2020; What Immortality?). She has translated more than twenty books of contemporary poetry, prose and non-fiction from Polish and Slovenian into Czech. She is the founder of the author’s association Stranou/Aside, which has been organizing the European Poets Live International Festival since 2008.

Ryan Falzon, Malta

Ryan Falzon: Photo © Therese Debono

Ryan Falzon (Valletta, 1988) is a Maltese author, visual artist and art educator. He has been publishing short fiction in various local publications since 2011. His writing has a collage effect, drawing inspiration from visual practices. He is concerned with the situation of millennials and Generation Z, examining the impact of social media, nostalgia, issues of identity, gender dynamics, the passage of time, intimate relationships and social class, as well as the rapid development and transformation of Malta’s social fabric. In 2022, he published SAJF, “the voice of Malta’s millennial generation, exploring the turbulent life on a Mediterranean island during the scorching summer months.” Told from the perspective of a 30-year-old local teacher, a passionate car enthusiast, the narrative delves into seasonal struggles, laments the current state of the island, while struggling with complicated relationships and yearning for a deeper connection with a close friend. SAJF has been shortlisted for the Malta NBC National Book Prize 2023. As a visual artist Falzon has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Malta and elsewhere in Europe since 2009. Falzon is a teacher of Art Education at St Edward’s College in Birgu and is enrolled in the Master of Fine Arts programme at the University of Malta.

Petr Hruška, Czech Republic

Petr Hruška: Photo © Petr Palarčík

Petr Hruška (1964) is a poet, prose writer, literary historian, university professor, lecturer, associate of the Institute of Czech Literature of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Brno, and organizer and initiator of literary events. Since 1995, he has published ten collections of poetry, the most recent being Nikde neni sloven (2019; Nowhere said) and Spatřil jsem svou tvař (2022; I noticed my face), three books of prose, and two monographs. He is an internationally renowned poet and recipient of numerous awards. His poems have been published in independent collections in more than twenty languages. The book Meseci in druge pesmi (2004; Months and Other Poems), a selection of Hruška’s poetry in Slovene translation, is the first selection of his poetry published abroad.

Dora Kaprálová, Czech Republic

Dora Kaprálová: Photo © Dirk Skiba

Dora Kaprálová (1975) is a literary critic, publicist and prose writer, documentarian and screenwriter. She has published several prose works, including Berlinsky razkolo (2016; The Berlin split) and Utrpeni a jine zhanry (2022; Suffering and other genres). Her book Navraty do Želar (2005, 2009; Return to Želare) was published in two editions. She is also the author of radio documentaries and numerous interviews.

Eustathia Paliotzika, Greece

Eustathia Paliotzika (Ευσταθία Παλιοτζήκα; Thessaloniki, 1994) graduated from the University of Thessaloniki with a BA in Greek Philology and an MA in Comparative Literature. In recent years she has worked in several places in the education sector, as an educator for vulnerable populations. Today she works as a literary editor and translator, publishing her poems and translations on various blogs and in literary magazines; she publishes under the pseudonym Tria epsilon (Τρία Έπσιλον). Her first collection of poems, Γνωρίζω αυτές που πλέκουν στη μέση της θάλασσας (2022; I Know Those Who Knit in the Middle of the Sea), was awarded the traka prize and the Giannis Varveris Prize for debut poetry collection by the Hellenic Authors Association in 2022.

Paolo Rumiz, Italy

Paolo Rumiz (Trieste, 1947) is an Italian journalist and writer. He has written thirty books that reflect his passion for travel and research. His writing is largely shaped by the borders along which he lives. He has published a series of travel feuilletons in Il Piccolo and La Repubblica, ranging from an account of a bicycle ride from Italy to Turkey to a journey along the ancient Appian Way. As a journalist, he followed the fall of the Iron Curtain, the conflicts surrounding the break-up of Yugoslavia, the rise of populist nationalism in Italy and Austria, the war in Afghanistan and the weakening of the European Union a hundred years after the start of the First World War. He has collaborated with director Alessandro Scillitani on ten films based on his travels to all the former European fronts. His books have been translated into English, French, German and the languages of the former Yugoslavia. Among the prizes he has received for his literary work are the 2013 L’Express magazine prize for his French translation of Hannibal, the 2015 Nicolas Bouvier prize for his book Il ciclope (The Cyclop), and the 2021 Emperor Charles IV European Medal for his efforts to promote European unity.

Robert Şerban, Romania

Robert Șerban (Turnu Severin, 1970) is a Romanian poet, writer, cultural journalist, television editor and President of the International Festival of Literature in Timișoara (FILTM). He studied Civil Engineering at the Polytechnic University and History and Theory of Art at the Western University of Timișoara. He has worked in print and online media, as a literary editor and as a journalism lecturer at university. For his first poetry collection Firește că exagerez (1994; Of Course, I’m Exaggerating) he was awarded Romanian Writers Union Prize for debut poetry collection. The collections of poetry that followed were: Odyssex (1996), Timișoara în trei prieteni (2003; Timişoara in Three Friends), Cinema la mine-acasă (2006; Home Cinema), Moartea parafină (2010; The para-fine death), Puțin sub linie (2015; Below the Line), Ascuns în transparență (2017; Hiding in Transparency), Tehnici de camulflaj (2018; Camouflage Techniques), Aproape nimic sigur (2024; Almost Nothing Is Certain), as well as more than 20 other books of interviews, reviews and memoirs. His poetry has been translated into most European languages and published in numerous anthologies and literary publications in Romania and abroad.