Josip Novakovich is a writer and academic. He was born in Yugoslavia and grew up in the central Croatian town of Daruvar near the Hungarian border. He left Yugoslavia to avoid service in the Yugoslav People's Army, and moved to the United States at the age of 20. Novakovich is currently professor of English at Concordia University in Montreal (Canada). He writes stories, essays, poetry, a novel and book reviews. A recipient of numerous literary awards among which the Whiting Award a Guggenheim fellowship, two fellowships from the National Endowment of the Arts, panelist of National Endowment of the Arts, an award from the Ingram Merrill Foundation, and an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation. Novakovich was a finalist for The Man Booker International Prize in 2013. He was anthologized in Best American Poetry, Pushcart Prize (three times), and O.Henry Prize Stories.
He is known in Bulgaria for his participation as a guest speaker at the Sozopol Fiction Seminar (2010/11) of the Elizabeth Kostova Foundation. He has a short stories collection and two books on creative writing translated into Bulgarian:
-- Yolk and Other Stories, Ciela Publishing, Sofia (2012), transl. by Zlatka Paskaleva
-- Fiction Writer's Workshop, Ciela Publishing, Sofia (2009), transl. by Maria Krasteva
-- Writing Fiction Step by Step, Ciela Publishing, Sofia (2012), transl. by Boris Deliradev, Petya Petkova
-- Infidelities: Stories of War and Lust, ICU Publishing, Sofia (2017), transl. by Elka Videnova.
Residency goals
As a resident at Sofia Literature and Translation House Josip Novakovich worked on his new book of short stories.
Public events
09th March, Thursday | 18:00 h | Hall 247A, Sofia University: English as a Stepmother, lecture and discussion (in English). More information in the attached poster.
14th March, Tuesday | 16:00 h | "America for Bugaria" hall at "Romain Rolland" High School: Josip Novakovich met high-school students and the "Writing in English" club (in English, for students only)
14th March, Tuesday | 18:30 h | Regional Library "Zachary Knyazheski" - Stara Zagora: Discussion with Josip Novakovich and Elka Videnova - translator of "Infidelities" in Bulgarian
21st March, Tuesday | 19:00 h| Peroto Literary Club: Launching event for Novakovich's new book in Bulgarian, 2017, ICU Publishers. More information in the attached press release.
Video from the event:
Interview with Josip Novakovich for his book Infidelities at Bulgarian National Television:
20-30th March | Sofia Writing Workshop with Bulgarian and American participants. More information in the attachedfile.
28th March, Tuesday| 18:00 h | Chitalnyata: Chitalnyata Evening Reading: A group of 5 American writers and 3 Bulgarian writers will read excerpts from their stories. Steven Lansky, Sara Dunham, Josip Novakovich, Terri Zucker, Ekaterina Petrova, Bogdana Tepavicharova, Robert Appelbaum and a couple of other writers (TBA). Each participant will read aloud for about five minutes, and afterwards, will discuss a variety of literary approaches in writing fiction and their impressions of Sofia. Visitors are welcome to participate in discussions and to meet the writers, who have spent a week here in an improvised writers workshop led by Josip Novakovich. This is an experiment in cultural exchange - come and exchange ideas!
