Alice Monica Marinescu und David Schwartz

WIR GRATULIEREN DEN DIESJÄHRIGEN SIEGERN VON TALKING ABOUT BORDERS 2012 zu ihrem Siegerstück

AM FALSCHEN PLATZ GEBOREN (Nu ne-am nascut in locul potrivit).

Alice Monica Marinescu with Austrian Ambassador Schwarzinger

Congratulation, Petrana Zlateva!

The international jury of TALKING ABOUT BORDERS 2010 decided unanimously in favor of her “An Unmusical Moment” as best Bulgarian play 2010!

Congratulation, Goce Smilevski!

Eleven European Authors have received the European Union Prize for Literature on 18 November 2010. One of them is Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia: Goce Smilevski!

The topic of this competition is „Talking about borders. Life experience in times of changes“. The aim is to strengthen the cultural exchange and knowledge of each other’s cultural identities.

These are the authors who won so far:

Petrana Zlateva – Winner of Talking About Borders 2010/11

Petrana Zlateva is an alias of the actress and writer Pepa Popzlateva. She absolved the National Academy of Acting and Film (main teachers Bogdan Sarchadzhiev and Plamen Markov), starting her stage career at the Experimental Theatre of Satire in Gabrovo (Bulgarien), being mainly directed by Villy Tsankovs. Later she moved to the Dramatic Theatre of Plovdiv, also living and working there as a freelance actress and author. She is one of the prize winners of the first poetry competition „Hristo Fotev“ in Bourgas (Bulgaria).

Winning play: An Unmusical Moment

Jonila Godole – Winner of Talking About Borders 2009/2010

The playwright Jonila Godole started her career at the age of 18 in former times of political transition, at the historical moment when dictatorship of Albania ended up in smoke, as the first woman being a political journalist. Within a few years she proceeded to become a prominent editorial journalist, famous for her critical interviews. As her freedom of speech was increasingly restricted by the government, she left Albania in 1997, emigrating to Germany, studying political sciences and sociology in Frankfurt. At this time she had finished already her studies of linguistics and literature in Tirana.
Today Godole is living again as college lecturer (journalism/political communication) in Tirana. She is also translating her favourite authors, i.e. Thomas Bernhard, Robert Musil, Kleist, Hölderlin or Rainer Maria Rilke into Albanian. Meanwhile Godole writes her own texts in German and Albanian. Her first novel „Der Kuss des Führers“ deals with the childhood in times of dictatorship. „The Sandman“ is her first theatre play.

Winning Play: Der Sandmann

Zlatko Topcic – Winner of Talking About Borders 2008/2009

Zlatko Topčić was born in Sarajevo on April 30, 1955. He graduated from Law School of the University of Sarajevo. Member PEN Center BiH I Association of writers of BiH.Director and art director Chamber theatar 55 Sarajevo. He has published the following collections of short stories: Životno pitanje (The Vital Question) (1981), Ptica iz drugog jata ( Bird From Another Flock, 1995), Bogumilske legende (Bogomil Legends) (1997)and Izabrane priče (Selected stories,2000); novels Čovjek niotkud (A Man From Nowhere, 1986), Kulin (1984), Košmar (Nightmare. 1997,1998,2000,2003.) and Gola koža (Bare skin,2004).The following collections of his plays have been published: Kolaps (Collapse) (1988), Izbjeglice (Refugees, 1998) Drame (Plays, 1995) and Time
out (2001). The following plays have been produced for the stage: Kolaps (Collapse, 1986), Kako Musa dere jarca (Musa and the Goat, 1993), Kulin ban (1995), Refugees (1999.) Plaza hotel (2000.) Time out (Bretton Holl,UK:Leeds,London-2002.) and Glavom kroz zid (MTM,2004.)
His stories and dramas have been translated to English, Polish, French, Bulgarian, Slovenian, Italian, Czech, Turkish and German, and they were included in several anthologies. He was also the scriptwriter for several documentary films: Odazivam Ti se, Bože (I Respond to You, God), Krv i mošus (Blood and Musk), Čudo u Bosni (Miracle in Bosnia), and U najboljim godinama (The Best Years Ever). Radio Sarajevo has produced seven of his radio plays.

He is the laureate of the most prestigious B&H literary award: THE B&H WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION ANNUAL AWARD FOR BEST BOOK PUBLISHED IN 1997, for his novel Košmar (Nightmare), first award at the anonymous concourse for film scenario awarded by Association of Film Makers of BH (Remake,1999.-World Premiere Rotterdam Film Festival 2003,directed Dino Mustafić),first award at the anonymous concourse for theatre plays (Time out,2000. and Glavom kroz zid, 2004).

Winning Play: I dont like Mondays

Goran Fercec – Winner of Talking About Borders 2007/2008

Born in 1978 in Koprivnica, lives and works in Zagreb. He’s a graduate student of dramaturgy at the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb and before that he studied art history and Polish language and literature at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb. He finished School of Applied Arts and Design at the paintings department.

He is the author of plays, performance and theoretical papers, essays, critical texts and short stories published in periodicals Frakcija (Zagreb), TKH/Walking theory (Belgrade), Kretanja (Zagreb), Scena(Novi Sad) and on the program of Croatian Radio.

Together with Jasna Žmak he co-founded dk (dramaturgical collective) initiative which, from 2008, stages the readings of performance and drama texts of young authors at the &TD Theater. He participated on the Sterijino pozorje’s “Nova drama/New Drama” project; in the Prešeren days dramatology coaching project in Kranj in 2008 as a dramaturge and was the coordinator of the EastDanceAcademy project in 2007. He was enrolled in PerformingArtsForum – PAF Summer school in St.Erme (France) in 2006 and participated in Cooking for company workshop in Grožnjan, Frankfurter Küche and Scott DeLahunta workshops in Zagreb in 2005.

He collaborates with Siniša Ilić on projects which include combining text and image: drawings based on “Brief an Heiner M.” in Art Point Gallery, Vienna, 2009; “Upražnjeno mjesto/Empty space” project in ULUS gallery, Belgrade, 2005; Story and Demands on Subjectivity – theoretical scrip, TkH, Belgrade, 2005.

Awards and scholarships: Zagreb University Rector’s Award, 2008; Austrian Award “Talking about borders” for a drama text “Letter to Heiner M.” on the subject of borders, 2007; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb Award for a translation of a short story from Polish which was part of the European Short Story Festival in Zagreb, 2002; a month long Polish Embassy scholarship winner in 2001.

Winning Play: Letter to Heiner M.

Emilija Andrejevic – Winner of Talking About Borders 2006/2007

Goce Smilevski – Winner of Talking About Borders 2005/2006

Goce Smilevski war born 1975 in Skopje, Macedonia.
He was educated at the Charles University in Prague, at Central European University in Budapest and at St. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, where he now works at the Institute for Literature.
He is the author of Conversation with Spinoza and Sigmund Freuds Sister. His His works are translated into English, Serbian, German, Slovenian, Polish and Croatian.

Winning Play: 3 dancing steps across the border