The Slovenian poet Boris A. Novak is one of the most outstanding voices on the scene of contemporary European poetry. He has developed an extensive work both in the field of poetry and in those of criticism, translation and theater. Born in 1953 in Belgrade (Serbia), he moved to Slovenia in his teens. He has been President of the Slovenian Pen Club and Vice President of the International Pen Club. He was one of the founders (and later editor-in-chief) of Nova revija, a monthly publication that played a decisive role in the democratization and independence of Slovenia, achieved in 1991. His dedication to literary translation is very intense (ancient Provençal poets, Mallarmé , Valéry, Jabès, Seamus Heaney, Josip Osti, etc.), an activity parallel to his work as a critic and literary historian. Among his best-known works in this field are titles such as The forms of the spirit (2016, enlarged version of The forms of the world, 1991), a detailed analysis of poetic forms throughout history, or Salto immortale (2011), monograph in two volumes on themes and problems of literary translation. He is currently a professor in the Department of Comparative Literature and Literary Theory at the University of Ljubljana.
Boris A. Novak's poetic production, already extensive, includes titles such as Stihožitje (Still life with verses, 1977), Hči spomina (The daughter of memory, 1981), 1001 Stih (1001 verses, 1983), Kronanje (Coronation, 1984 and 1989), Stihija (Cataclysm, 1991), Mojster nespe čnosti (Master of insomnia, 1995), Alba (1999), Odmev (Eco, 2000), Odsotnost (Absence, 2000), Žarenje (Fulguría, 2003), Obredi slovesa (Farewell rites, 2005), MOM: Mala Osebna Mythologija (PMP: Little Personal Mythology, 2007), Satje (Honeycomb, 2010) and Definicije (Definitions, 2013). He is also the author of an extensive epic poem, entitled Vrata nepovrata (The Door of No Return, 2014-2017), in three volumes, an ambitious project that shows how the poetic word is the best way to resurrect places, times and human destinies, of to rescue personal and collective memory from oblivion and to fulfill the duty that one has in the face of this inheritance –so typical of every human being– which is history. His most recent work is The Gardener of Silence and Other Poems, published in 2018 by Galaxia Gutenberg.
Heir and continuation of the great traditions of literary modernity, all of his work clearly reveals that the poet has known how to make his own laboratory of experimentation out of traditional lyrical forms. The diversity of his molds has made the critics say that he is one of the formally most perfect authors of our time. A poet for whom "sound means and meaning sounds": a creative form of a new meaning. For all these reasons, Novak has recently received the highest literary recognition in Slovenia, the Prešeren Prize, awarded for all of his poetic work.
