Drago Jančar is a Slovenian writer, playwright and essayist based in Ljubljana. In the mid-1970s, in the then relatively liberal Yugoslavia, he was imprisoned on a charge of hostile propaganda, for bringing a booklet about a wartime massacre perpetrated by Tito’s troops in 1945 from Austria and lending to some friends. He was released after three months and subsequently called up for military service in Serbia.
In 1987-1991 he was the chair of the Slovenian PEN Centre. Jančar has received a number of literary awards, including the Prešeren Award, Slovenia’s most prestigious arts award in 1993, for his narratives, plays and essays; the Kresnik Award for best novel of the year in 1999, 2001 and 2011; the European Short Story Award (Augsburg, 1994); the Herder Prize for literature in 2003; the Jean Améry essay award (2007) and the European Prize for Literature in 2011. Since 1995, he has been a member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts. His books in English translation include Mocking Desire (1998), The Prophecy and Other Stories (2008); Northern Lights (2011) and The Galley Slave (2011).
Information valid as of winter 2012.