Igor Štiks (born 17 September 1977,

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

) is a Bosnian and Croatian

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

and

political philosopher Political philosophy studies the theoretical and conceptual foundations of politics. It examines the nature, scope, and legitimacy of political institutions, such as states. This field investigates different forms of government, ranging from de ...

. As an academic, Štiks works as a

research associate Research associates are researchers (scholars and professionals) that usually have an advanced degree beyond a Bachelor's degree such as a master's degree or a PhD. In some universities/research institutes, such as Harvard/Harvard Medical Scho ...

at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

. His novels ''The Judgment of Richard Richter'' and ''A Castle in Romagna'' have earned him multiple awards; the former has been translated into 15 languages.

Biography

Igor Štiks was born in

Bosnia-Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to the north a ...

, in 1977. During the

Yugoslav wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place from 1991 to 2001 in what had been the Socialist Federal Republic of ...

he fled to

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

and currently lives in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

. He has also lived in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, and

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

. He earned his PhD at the

Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris Sciences Po () or Sciences Po Paris, also known as the Paris Institute of Political Studies (), is a public research university located in Paris, France, that holds the status of ''grande école'' and the legal status of . The university's unde ...

and

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

and later worked and taught at the

and the Faculty of Media and Communications in

. His first novel, ''A Castle in Romagna'' (Dvorac u Romagni), won the Slavić prize for best first novel in Croatia and was nominated for the IMPAC

International Dublin Literary Award The International Dublin Literary Award (), established as the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, is presented each year for a novel written or translated into English. It promotes excellence in world literature and is solely ...

for 2006. His second novel ''The Judgment of Richard Richter'', originally published as ''Elijah's Chair'' (Elijahova stolica), won the Gjalski and Kiklop Awards for the best novel in Croatia in 2006 and has been translated into fifteen languages including German, Spanish, French, Dutch, Italian, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Slovenian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Finnish, Ukrainian and Arabic. In 2017 he published his third novel originally titled ''Rezalište''. In his scholarly work, Štiks investigated the topic of citizenship and

nationalism Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

and the

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

.Jadžić, Miloš & Miljković, Dušan & Veselinović, Ana (eds.). (2012). ''Kriza, odgovori, levica: Prilozi za jedan kritički diskurs'', Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Southeastern Europe:

, p. 159 (in

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * Pertaining to Serbia in Southeast Europe; in particular **Serbs, a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans ** Serbian language ** Serbian culture **Demographics of Serbia, includes other ethnic groups within the co ...

) Besides many scholarly articles and edited volumes, Štiks published a monograph, ''Nations and Citizens in Yugoslavia and the Post-Yugoslav States: One Hundred Years of Citizenship'' (2015). Along with Jo Shaw, he edited the collections ''Citizenship after Yugoslavia'' (2013) and ''Citizenship Rights'' (2013), and, with

Srećko Horvat Srećko Horvat (born 28 February 1983) is a Croatian philosopher, author and political activist. The German weekly '' Der Freitag'' called him "one of the most exciting voices of his generation" and he has been described as a "fiery voice of diss ...

, ''Welcome to the Desert of Post-Socialism'' (2015). Štiks was honored with the prestigious French distinction

Chevalier des arts et des lettres The Order of Arts and Letters () is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is the recognition of significant ...

for his literary and intellectual achievements. In addition to winning the Grand Prix of the 2011 Belgrade International Theater Festival for his stage adaptation of ''Elijah's Chair'', Štiks wrote two more plays, ''Flour in the Vein''s and ''Zrenjanin''. All three plays were put on stage by one of the leading post-Yugoslav theater directors Boris Liješević. In 2017, Štiks signed the

Declaration on the Common Language The Declaration on the Common Language ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Deklaracija o zajedničkom jeziku, Декларација о заједничком језику, separator=" / ") was issued in 2017 by a group of intellectuals and NGOs from Bosnia and He ...

of the

Croats The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central Europe, Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian Cultural heritage, ancest ...

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian Cultural heritage, ancestry, Culture of Serbia, culture, History of Serbia, history, and Serbian lan ...

Bosniaks The Bosniaks (, Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia (region), Bosnia, today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and who sha ...

and

Montenegrins Montenegrins (, or ) are a South Slavic ethnic group that share a common ancestry, culture, history, and language, identified with the country of Montenegro. Montenegrins are mostly Orthodox Christians; however, the population also includes ...

Personal life

Štiks is married to Dr. Jelena Vasiljevic, who is a research associate at the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory at

University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade () is a public university, public research university in Belgrade, Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it me ...

. They live in

and have a son.

Bibliography

Novels

* ''The Cuts'', (Rezalište), Fraktura Publishing, Zagreb, 2017. * ''The Judgment of Richard Richter'', originally published as ''Elijah's Chair'' (Elijahova stolica ), translated by Ellen Elias Bursac, AmazonCrossing, US, September 2017. * ''A Castle in Romagna'', (Dvorac u Romagni), translated by Russell Valentino and Tomislav Kuzmanovic, AmazonCrossing, US, March 2018.

Theatre

* ''Flour in the Veins'' (Brašno u venama), play, bilingual edition, translated into English by Andrew B. Wachtel, Fraktura, Zagreb, 2016.

Poetry

* ''History of a Flood'' (Povijest poplave), Fraktura, Zagreb, 2008.

Scholarship / Non-fiction (author)

* ''The Right to Rebellion: An Introduction to Anatomy of Civic Resistance'' (Pravo na pobunu: uvod u anatomiju gradjanske pobune ), with Srećko Horvat, Fraktura, Zagreb, 2010 * ''Nations and Citizens in Yugoslavia and the Post-Yugoslav States: One Hundred Years of Citizenship'', London:

Bloomsbury Publishing Bloomsbury Publishing plc is a British worldwide publishing house of fiction and non-fiction. Bloomsbury's head office is located on Bedford Square in Bloomsbury, an area of the London Borough of Camden. It has a US publishing office located in ...

, 2015.

Scholarship / Non-fiction (editor)

* ''Citizenship after Yugoslavia'', with Jo Shaw, Abingdon: Routledge, 2013. * ''Citizenship Rights'', with Jo Shaw, Farnham and London: Ashgate, 2013. * ''Welcome to the Desert of Post-Socialism: Radical Politics after Yugoslavia'', with Srećko Horvat, London: Verso, 2015.

Fiction (editor)

* ''The Eight Ocular, selected stories by Goran Tribuson'' (Osmi okular: izabrane priče Gorana Tribusona), edited by Igor Štiks, Ceres, Zagreb, 1998. * ''22 in the Shadow: An Anthology of New Croatian Fiction'' (22 u hladu: antologija nove hrvatske proze 90ih), edited by Igor Štiks and Dalibor Šimpraga, Celeber, Zagreb, 1999. * ''The Ultimate Safari through the Empire of English Language'' (Vrhunski safari kroz carstvo engleskog jezika), edited by Igor Štiks and Dragan Koruga, Naklada MD, Zagreb, 2001. * ''New European Poets'', edited by Wayne Miller and Kevin Prufer, editor for Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, and Bosnia-Herzegovina, Graywolf Press, US, 2008.

References

External links

Audio recording
of readings by Igor Štiks and Aleš Debeljak at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Stiks, Igor 1977 births Living people Croatian novelists Croatian male novelists Writers from Sarajevo Signatories of the Declaration on the Common Language Bosnia and Herzegovina novelists Bosnia and Herzegovina essayists Bosnia and Herzegovina dramatists and playwrights