Creative writing prof nominated for major award
Concordia creative writing professor Josip Novakovich is one of 10 nominees nominated for the fifth Man Booker International Prize.
Worth £60,000, the award recognizes the world’s finest modern literature. It highlights a writer’s continued creativity, development and overall contribution to fiction on the world stage.
For Novakovich, this recognition comes after decades of scholarship and publishing. The short-story writer, novelist and essayist was born in what is now Croatia, where he grew up under the authoritarian regime of Marshal Tito. He studied medicine in Serbia before moving to the U.S. where he continued his schooling, first in psychology at Vassar College and then in creative writing at Yale. He joined Concordia’s Department of English as a professor of creative writing in 2009.
Known for his writing about the atrocities of the war in former Yugoslavia, Novakovich has published critically acclaimed short story collections – including Yolk, Salvation and Other Disasters and Infidelities: Stories of War and Lust – that are characterized by a darkly comic tone.
The finalists’ list was announced by the chair of judges, Sir Christopher Ricks, at a press conference hosted at the Jaipur Literature Festival in India on January 24, 2013. The winner will be announced on May 22, 2013.
Related links:
• The Man Booker International Prize Finalists Announced
• Professor Novakovich's profile page
• Concordia University's Department of English