As a novelist, short-story writer, playwright, and essayist, Drago Jančar (1948) is a central figure in contemporary Slovenian literature. His writing has revealed an artistic power of formulating and expressing ideas that reach far beyond the spiritual and cultural sphere of his native country, making him the most translated Slovenian writer. His novels, essays and short stories have been translated into 21 languages and published in Europe, Asia and the United States. His dramas have also been staged by a number of foreign theatres, while back home they are frequently considered the highlights of the Slovenian theatrical season.
“Jančar writes powerful, complex stories with an unostentatious assurance, and has a gravity which makes the tricks of more self-consciously modern writers look cheap [...] Whether they are psychological studies or parables, Jančar reports these episodes with a fine structural balance and, though at times clearly conversing with his literary antecedents, he wears his reading lightly [...] Throughout his stories, Jančar examines the nature of witness, personal, historical and authorial.”Micha Lazarus, Times Literary Supplement
“Perpetual relevance is certainly one of Jančar’s unchanging qualities as his works appear to age splendidly well, a good indication of his emerging road to immortality as a classic of world literature.”Alen Širca, Slovenian literary historian, philosopher and translator.
“His work carries the tone, resonance and grandiosity of a great writer of European awareness.”French translator and poet Jean-Baptiste Para during the award ceremony of the European Prize for Literature
Awards
Grum Award for best Slovenian play1982, 1985, 1989, 1995
Prešeren Award, Slovenia’s highest award for artistic achievement1993
European Short Story Award1994
Herder Prize2003
Jean Améry Prize2007
Premio Hemingway2009
Prix Méditerranée2009
European Prize for Literature2011
Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger2014
Ignazio Silone International Prize2016
Kresnik Award for best novel of the year1999, 2001, 2011, 2018
Stefan Mitrov Ljubiša Award2019
Austrian State Prize for European Literature2020
Kresnik Award for best novel of the decade2020
Milovan Vidaković Prize awarded by the International Festival Prosefest in Novi Sad, Serbia2021