Skopje, 16 March 2023 (MIA) — Vlada Uroshevikj's “The True Yet Not Very Plausible History of the Pustopolski Family About the House by the Vardar and About the Four Rings” (Ars Libris, 2022) is the winner of the 24th Novel of the Year award, contest organizers announced at a press conference Wednesday.

The winner was decided by a panel of five judges: Simona Jovanoska, chair and last year's Novel of the Year winner; Goce Ristovski; Ilir Ajdini; Sasho Kokalanov; and Katerina Bogoeva. Thirty-five books were submitted to this year's contest, Jovanoska told the press conference.

She said Venko Andonovski's “The Navel of the Light,” Zhivko Grozdanoski's “A Letter to Gloria,” and Tomislav Osmanli's “The Singing Column” had also made the final shortlist for the award. 

“Non-standard in every sense, Vlada Uroshevikj's novel speaks to us through its protagonists with changing fortunes and recalls life in another, distant time by the Vardar,” the panel of judges said about the novel.

Uroshevikj told the press he was glad the foundation named after Slavko Janevski was organizing the contest.

“I consider Slavko Janevski, our first novelist, an extremely important author,” Uroshevikj said. “Over the years, Slavko and I had a very dynamic relationship, from heated arguments to a truly great friendship. We met a lot, we sat together a lot, and his character is one of my favorite memories from my literary life.”

He said he wrote the novel over two and a half years. He was inspired by “a vision of a house,” he said.

Vlada Uroshevikj (b. 1934, Skopje) is a prominent Macedonian writer. He has written numerous books of poetry, short stories, novels, essays, travelogues, literary and art criticism, as well as literary theory and translations.

Komercijalna Banka is sponsoring the Novel of the Year award, which consists of a statuette, a plaque, and Mden 150,000. 

Between 1999 and 2017, the award was given by Utrinski vesnik. After the newspaper’s demise, Slavko Janevski Foundation took over the book contest. mr/