Muanis Sinanović
Muanis Sinanović: Photo © Festival Fabula/Nina Pernat
Muanis Sinanović (Novo mesto, 1989) is a Slovenian poet, writer, essayist and critic, who has published four books of poetry, a satirical novella, a collection of short stories and a novel. In 2012, he received the Slovenian Book Fair’s Debut Book of the Year Award, and in 2021 he received the Critic’s Sieve Award for the best book of the year, as chosen by the Association of Slovenian Literary Critics, for his poetry collection Krhke karavane (2020; Fragile Caravans). The collection of short stories Na senčni strani blokov (2023; On the Shady Side of the Blocks) was one of the nine Slovenian books selected for the Fabula International Festival and for the 10 Books from Slovenia, an annual selection published by the Centre for Slovenian Literature. In 2022, he received the Stritar Prize for his work as critic. He has been a guest at numerous national and international literary festivals and has been included in national and international anthologies, most recently in Mein Nachbar auf der Wolke, an anthology of Slovenian poetry of the 20th and 21st centuries, published by Carl Hansen. He also occasionally works as an editor and translator, most recently translating Milena Marković’s novel in verse, Deca (Children), from Serbian into Slovenian. He is a co-curator of the international literary evenings Salon z razgledom (Salon with a View), which he organizes at Cankarjev dom.
Dominik Srienc
Dominik Srienc: Photo © Stefan Reichmann
Dominik Srienc (Bach/Potok pri Bilčovsu, Austria, 1984) is a bilingual and multilingual poet, translator, literary researcher and co-founder of several literary and cultural projects. He studied German and Slavic Studies at the University of Vienna, Santiago de Compostela and Olomouc. From 2012 to 2014 he was a German language lecturer in Kyrgyzstan and Armenia. His work often crosses linguistic and literary boundaries, e.g. in music, drama. His bilingual collection of poems Tu je konec / Hier ist Schluss (2014; This Is the End) won the prize for the best literary debut from the Office of the Federal Chancellor of the Republic of Austria. He translated the poetry collection Molitev metulja (Gebet des Schmetterlings, 2014; The Prayer of the Butterfly) by Esad Babačić into German. He has published in Slovene and Austrian literary magazines (e.g. Lichtungen, Literatur und Kritik, I.D.I.O.T., Rastje, Die Brücke) as well as anthologies. Together with Elena Messner, they compiled the anthology Abziehbilder / Odlepke (2021; Stickers) and wrote the play Jez / Der Damm (The Dam), which was staged in 2015. He is a member of the Slovene Writers’ Association in Austria (DSPA) and curator of the literary programme of the festival TRIVIUM / tri ceste / drei wege, and was a member of the experimental music-literary-performative collective Poetronic. His poems have been turned into music by, among others, the Carinthian Regional Youth Choir. He lives and works in Klagenfurt, where he works at the Robert Musil Institute.
Jernej Županič
Jernej Županič: Photo © Matic Bajželj in LUD Literatura
Jernej Županič (Ljubljana, 1982) is a Slovenian poet, writer, translator, proofreader and former literary critic. He has translated works by Herman Melville, J. M. Coetzee, Lydia Davis, Jonathan Franzen, and David Foster Wallace, to name a few. In 2017 he received the Radojka Vrančič Award for Young Translators, and in 2023 the Sovre Award. He has published two novels—Mamuti (Mammoths) won the 2019 Critic’s Sieve Award and Behemot (Behemoth) was nominated the following year—as well as three poetry collections: Tatar (2016; Tartar), Orodje za razgradnjo imperija (2021; Tools for Dismantling the Empire), and Navade in uzance (2023; Habits and Customs). The collection Tools for Dismantling the Empire was nominated for both the Jenko award and the Veronika award. The poems published in this anthology are from the collection Habits and Customs, an experimental book of poetry created using Google Translate.