Pajtim Statovci (born 1990) is a Finnish novelist. His debut novel, Kissani Jugoslavia, was published in 2014, winning the Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize for best debut novel in Finnish for that year,[1] and was published in 2017 as My Cat Yugoslavia in the UK and US.[2] It was made into a play and staged at the Finnish National Theater in Helsinki in 2018.[3] His second novel, Tiranan sydän, won the Toisinkoinen Literature Prize for 2016,[4] and was published as Crossing in the UK and the US in 2019.[5]

Early life

Statovci was born in Kosovo in 1990 to Albanian parents.[6] In 1992, after the outbreak of war in Yugoslavia, of which Kosovo was a part and where Albanians were persecuted, his family fled to Finland.[7] He studied comparative literature at the University of Helsinki and screenwriting at Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture.[4]

Awards

2021: Nominated for the Kirkus Prize for Bolla

2019: Finlandia Award winner for his third novel, Bolla[8]

2019: Finalist for the National Book Award for Translated Literature for Crossing (translated by David Hackston)[9]

2019: Longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award [10]

2018: Helsinki Writer of the Year Award [11]

2017: Shortlisted for the Future of Finnish Culture Award

2016: Toisinkoinen Literature Prize

2015: Shortlisted for the Flame Bearer Prize

2014: Shortlisted for the Young Aleksis Literature Prize

2014: Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize (Best Debut)

Bibliography

Novels

  • Kissani Jugoslavia, Otava, 2014 (My Cat Yugoslavia, Pantheon Books, 2017; trans. David Hackston). ISBN 9789511269786 (Finnish); ISBN 9781782273608 (English).
  • Tiranan Sydän, Otava, 2016 (Crossing, Pantheon Books, 2019 ; trans. David Hackston). ISBN 9789511305781 (Finnish); ISBN 9781524747497 (English).
  • Bolla, Otava, 2019 (Bolla, Pantheon Books, 2021; trans. David Hackston). ISBN 9789511316824.[lower-alpha 1]

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Notes
  1. ↑ Briefly reviewed in the September 13, 2021 issue of The New Yorker.

References

  1. ↑ "Pajtim Statovcin romaani voitti HS:n kirjallisuuspalkinnon". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). 2014-11-13. Retrieved 2017-10-08.
  2. ↑ Obreht, Téa (2017-04-21). "An Uncanny Cat, a Companionable Snake and Displaced Desire". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-10-08.
  3. ↑ "Teatteriarvostelu: Pajtim Statovcin palkittuun romaaniin pohjaava näytelmä Kissani Jugoslavia on luonteva ja pakoton kaikessa runsaudessaan". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). 2018-11-17. Retrieved 2018-11-28.
  4. 1 2 "Pajtim Statovci - Salomonsson Agency". Salomonsson Agency. Archived from the original on 2018-05-09. Retrieved 2017-10-08.
  5. ↑ Cummins, Anthony (7 May 2019). "Crossing by Pajtim Statovci review – duplicity, double identity and horror". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 May 2019. Pajtim Statovci
  6. ↑ Reith, James (2017-09-07). "Pajtim Statovci: 'I'm drawn to fiction that makes the unimaginable possible'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2017-10-08.
  7. ↑ Bellot, Gabrielle (2017-04-25). "A Life Altered by War and Transmuted Into Fiction". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2017-10-08.
  8. ↑ "Finlandia fiction prize goes to Pajtim Statovci". YLE News. 2019-11-27. Retrieved 2019-12-30.
  9. ↑ "The 2019 National Book Awards Finalists Announced". National Book Foundation. 2019-10-07. Retrieved 2019-10-09.
  10. ↑ "39 novels in translation on the 2019 longlist". International DUBLIN literary award. Retrieved 2019-12-05.
  11. ↑ "Pajtim Statovci". Pajtim Statovci. Retrieved 2019-06-17.
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