Skopje, 19 September 2025 (MIA) — To mark the 55th birth anniversary of Macedonian poet Igor Isakovski (1970-2014), the publishing house Ili-ili has published a collected edition of his poems and will host a book launch at Bukva bookstore at 8 pm.

Titled "The Perfect Poet," the 700-page volume gathers all Isakovski's poems.

Elizabeta Bakovska, the editor of his collected works, wrote in an afterword to the book that rereading his poetry was "difficult and painful but also incredibly enlightening."

"One of those life experiences that change a person," Bakovska wrote.

In her own afterword to the book, literary critic Elizabeta Sheleva wrote, "We never know what poem will be our last."

"Speaking of a close and valued person, an excellent and dedicated poet, an uncompromising and fiery man, grammar suddenly becomes a cruel discipline. How can you, all of a sudden, talk about someone in the past tense?" Sheleva wrote.

The photos in the book were taken by Sasho Dimoski. The cover design is by Marija Smilevska and the book design is by Svetlana Kochovska Steovikj.

Igor Isakovski (1970-2014) was a Macedonian poet, fiction writer, translator and editor. He was the editor-in-chief of Blesok, the first European online magazine for literature and other arts, which he founded in 1998.

He is the author of "Letters" (1991, a novel), "Black Sun" (1992, poetry), "Explosions, Pregnant Moon, Eruptions…" (1993, short stories), "Vulcan – Earth –" (1995, poetry), "– Sky" (1996, 2000, poetry), "Engravings, Blues Phone Booth" (2001, prose etchings), "Sandglass" (2002, short stories), "Way Down in the Hole" (2004, poetry), "Swimming in the Dust" (2005, 2010, a novel), "Blues Phone Booth II" (2006, prose etchings), "Interning for a Saint" (2008, poetry), "The Night Is Darkest Before the Dawn" (2009, poetry), "Vulcano – Earth – Sky" (2010, poetry), "Love Poem" (2011, poetry), "Death Has Seaweed Hair" (2013, poetry) and "So Yes" (2015, poetry). 

Isakovski's works have been translated into 16 languages and published in about 20 countries. 

He translated poetry, fiction and essays from and into Macedonian, English, Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin as well as from Slovenian into Macedonian. There are more than 60 published books in his translation into Macedonian. mr/