Lojze Kovačič

Lojze Kovačič (1928–2004) has established himself as a powerful Slovenian voice in the modern literary canon. His works articulate the limits of the human condition in an introspective and highly philosophical manner, whilst also exploring morality and existential topics such as life and death, displacement and exile, dream and reality. Although born in Switzerland, Kovačič was exiled to Ljubljana, Slovenia with his German mother and Slovenian father in 1938. As the acclaimed recipient of the Grand Prešeren Award, Slovenia’s highest award for artistic achievement, in 1973 and a three-time winner of the Kresnik Award for best novel of the year in 1991, 2004 and 2016 – the latter being the Silver Kresnik Award – Kovačič was an accomplished author of both children’s and adult fiction who left behind a luminescent literary legacy and has been compared to great Central European writers such as Danilo Kiš, Sándor Márai, Imre Kertész and Ismail Kadare.

Awards

Prešeren Fund Award 1969
Grand Prešeren Award 1973
Kresnik Award for best novel of the year 1991, 2004
Silver Kresnik Award 2016 for best Slovenian novel of the last 25 years

Others about Lojze Kovačič

The greatest Slovenian writer of the 20th century.

Kresnik Award jury

Books by Lojze Kovačič