sl / en
Filter by Oznake izdelkov
novel

Liberty Square

Trg osvoboditve

On 21 June 1988, a rally against political arrests takes place in Liberation Square in Ljubljana. Many other things happen: a young man accidentally steps on a young woman, sparing a bong that will – with its ups and downs – last a lifetime.

Dimensions: 13 x 20 cm
Year of publication: 2021
No. of pages: 286

About the book

The story of a young couple is only one piece in the mosaic of those exciting times when, at least for a moment, it seemed that absolutely everything was possible. A sensitive observer witnesses the tumult of decades that include the Ten Day War, a change of the political system and ethical norms, and also the transformation of once high ideals into their opposites.

In this novel about Slovenia’s independence, Andrej Blatnik with incisive observations and anecdotes reveals the complexity of the transition into times when dreams hit the hard ground of the free market of goods and values. Family and social bonds break down under pressures, the same people find themselves in new lineups, each face rising the same unspoken question: after so many transformations, including social ones, do we still have enough in common to be able to sustain the hope of a happy ending?

 

Andrej Blatnik (foto: Boštjan Pucelj)

Andrej Blatnik

Andrej Blatnik (1963) works as an editor and associate professor of publishing studies at the University of Ljubljana. He has published seventeen books so far, his stories have been translated into numerous languages and published in magazines and anthologies, including Best European Fiction 2010 (Dalkey Archive Press, 2010) and Short: An International Anthology of Five Centuries of Short – Short Stories, Prose Poems, Brief Essays, & Other Short Prose Forms (Persea Books, 2014). He received the Zlata Ptica Award (1984), the Župančič Award (1991), and the Prešeren Fund Award (2002). His novel Spremeni me (Change Me) was among the five finalists for the 2009 Kresnik Award, his collection of essays Neonski pečati (Neon Seals) among the three finalists for the 2006 Rožanc Award, his collection of short stories Ugrizi (Bites) one of the four finalists for the 2019 Novo Mesto Award, and his novel Luknje (Holes) one of four finalists for the 2021 Cankar Award. The Russian translation of his book Saj razumeš? (You Do Understand?) won the 2015 Yugra Prize (Premiya ‘Yugra’) for best book of short prose translated from another Slavic language into Russian. He has participated in numerous literary festivals around the globe, including PEN World Voices in New York City, the Toronto International Festival of Authors, Cosmopolis in Barcelona, and the Jaipur Literary Festival in India.