PAJTIM STATOVCI

Born in Kosovo to Albanian parents, Pajtim’s family fled the Yugoslav wars and moved to Finland when he was two years old. He studied comparative literature at the University of Helsinki and published his first novel Kissani Jugoslavia in 2014, winning several prizes, translated in 2017 as My Cat Yugoslavia. It was staged at the Finnish National Theatre in Helsinki in 2018. His second novel Crossing was a finalist for the US National Book Award, and his novel Bolla was awarded Finland’s highest literary honour, The Finlandia Prize. In 2018, he received the Helsinki Writer of the Year Award.

FEATURED BOOK: Bolla.  Novel about war and the need for people to change. Tr. David Hackston, Faber, 2022. 

Image credits @AnnaKurki