Zoran Živković is one of the most translated contemporary Serbian writers. This year will probably set a record for the number of countries in which translations of this writer’s books will be published.

By Mila Milosavljević
Photo by Milan Melka

Had Zoran Živković been born in the United States, our most translated contemporary writer would probably be a rich man and a celebrity. Unfortunately, few people know that this writer numbers among the most popular and widely read foreign fantasy authors in America. As conformation of this, the "World Fantasy Award" has gone to only one European writer before Živković won it.

– What's new in the literary workshop of Zoran Živković?

– Before I answer what's new in my literary workshop, I would like first to say something about transposing my prose books into other media. At the end of September last year, the BBC 4 broadcasted a radio adaptation of my story "The Train" from the "Impossible Encounters" cycle, and I've just been informed that the BBC 7 has bought the rights to my story "Alarm Clock on the Night Table" from the book "Steps Through the Mist". Early this year the Studio B broadcasted the first five TV episodes of the series "The Collector", based on my story cycle "Twelve Collections". The remaining seven episodes are currently in the process of production and will be broadcasted in the Autumn. In February, the London based production company "Chocolate Films" bought the option to produce a film based on my novel "Hidden Camera". Finally, a respectable domestic director is preparing to adapt three stories from "Impossible Encounters" for a film. I can't give you more details at the moment, since the contract has not yet been signed.

As for my new fiction in 2006, two books have already been published: a novel, "The Bridge", and a mosaic-novel, "Miss Tamara, The Reader".

– Why do so few people here know about your affirmation abroad?

– On the contrary, it is now well known. As of recently, my name is always accompanied by "one of our most translated writers". Another question is whether people are impressed by this. One of our respectable authors explained to me how I shouldn't get carried away by this success abroad. The crucial thing, he said, is that I've been lucky to be published by foreign publishers. If his book were translated and published, he pointed out, I would see what a success that would be.

– How do books get translated and published abroad?

– To get any foreign publisher to take you into consideration, you have to provide a perfect English translation of your books. All fourteen of my books of fiction are available in English translation. What you need next is a good literary agent to represent you. Without these, there is almost no chance of reaching a publisher in the West. The only thing that counts there is how well your book sells on the market.

– Do you attend your book promotions? Do you maintain contact with your foreign readers?

– As a writer, I am far more often invited to various literary gatherings abroad than in Serbia. In late 2004 I attended the Writers Festival in Brisbane, Australia, and last year I went to Lisbon, Portugal, to take part in a similar event. Next year I will be a guest of honor at "Eurocon" in Copenhagen, while in 2008 I will attend, in the same capacity, a convention in Dublin, Ireland.

– Would it be correct to say that Zoran Živković has fans in the country, but also abroad?

– The majority of my literary fans come from the United States. I receive e-mails from them almost every day, and I do my best to answer them. That is a part of a protocol important to both authors and publishers. But I have fans in other countries as well. The more of my books are brought out abroad, the more readers I gain, the more people seem to like my fiction and want to establish contact with me.

– Do you think that for an author of your potential it is a handicap to write in a small language?

– The handicap is only financial. I have organized my work so that my English translator, Mrs. Alice Copple-Tošić, translates parallel to my writing, so that we have an English translation within days following the completion of my Serbian original. It could be said that, for all practical purposes, this is like writing in English. Only it isn't inexpensive.

– In spite of all your denials in numerous interviews, there are still people, some of whom I know, mostly editors at various magazines, who consider you to be the founder of SF prose in our country. Why this paradox?

– I am most definitely not the founder of science fiction prose in our country. SF has been written for nearly a century before I wrote my first piece of fiction (1993). Those who see me as an SF writer – and there is, I agree, quite a number of them (recently, in a TV quiz, my name appeared in response to the question "Who is our greatest SF writer?") – haven't read any of my books. Should they decide to correct that omission, I have to warn them (perhaps disappoint them) that in the fourteen prose books I have written so far there is no trace of science fiction.

– Awards. What do they mean to you personally?

– This is another field in which mystifications follow me. I have received only two awards: "Miloš Crnjanski" for the novel "The Fourth Circle" (1994) and the "World Fantasy Award" for the mosaic-novel "The Library" (2003). I really hope that I will not receive any more awards. There is something fundamentally wrong with the institution of literary awards. Writers find themselves in a rather awkward situation to be involved in a hippodrome contest and nobody has asked them if they wanted to compete at all. Every award means one winner and numerous defeated competitors. This seems to me deeply unjust. When I sit at my desk to write, the very last thing I have on my mind is a literary ward.

– It seems that you have completely abandoned publishing activity? Why's that?

– I haven't abandoned publishing activity completely. I still bring out first editions of my own books both in Serbian and English. But that's all. I gave up publishing professionally in 2000. The reason was simple. When I entered my fifties, I no longer had my former working fanaticism for "a parallel slalom". I had to choose and I decided to abandon publishing, dedicating myself to writing. And I didn't regret it.

– How do you, as a person well versed in the literary trends abroad, see our place on the literary map of the world? Where are we there?

– We are there where we are translated. Alas, the number of places where you can find translations of the contemporary Serbian literature is very limited. I could explain at length why that is. One of the reasons is the total ignorance of a vast majority of domestic writers regarding how the international publishing system functions. They naively expect that foreign publishers will somehow learn about their works, read them in their Serbian original or not hesitate to invest in a translation, and then hurry to publish them. The reality is diametrically different.

– What are you currently reading?

– I have just read an excellent novel in every respect – "My Name Is Red" by the Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk. I truly recommend it.

– Who have been your literary models?

– Jaroslav Hasek, Milan Kundera, Umberto Eco, Kazuo Ishiguro, Jose Saramago, Ursula LeGuin, Orhan Pamuk, Tamar Yellin.