• Publisher: Beletrina
• 304 pages
• Author: Goran Vojnović
• Original title: Figa

The Fig Tree follows the intertwining stories of Aleksandar and Jana, Vesna and Safet, and Jadran and Anja, as well as others. But mostly that of Jadran, a 30-something who tries to piece together his family history, in order to better understand his own story. Because he cannot understand why Anja has walked out of their life, he tries to understand the death, supposedly facilitated by a suspicious pill bottle, of his grandfather Aleksandar. He tries to understand the withdrawal of his grandmother Jana, the disintegration of her memories, and her retreat into oblivion and dementia. Jadran tries to understand the departure of his father Safet, his disappearance from Lju- bljana in the first year of the war in the Balkans. And he tries to understand his mother Vesna, her bewilder- ing resentment of his grandfather, her silent disappointment with his father. Vojnović is a master story- teller, and while the fateful choices made by his characters are often dictated by the historical realities of the times they live in, at its heart this is an intimate story of family, of relationships, of love, freedom and the choices we make

About the author

Goran Vojnović

Author and director Goran Vojnović (1980) exploded onto the Slovenian literary scene in 2008 with his debut novel Southern Scum, Go Home! (Čefurji raus!). The novel became

an instant bestseller, reaped all the major national literary awards, including the Kresnik Award

and the Prešeren Fund Award, Slovenia’s highest award for artistic achievement, has been reprinted numerous times, made into a theatre play and a movie (the latter was directed by the author himself) and translated into nine languages. His second novel, Yugoslavia, My Fatherland (Jugoslavija, moja dežela, 2012), also received the Kresnik Award, was made into a theatre play

and translated into twenty languages. His third novel, The Fig Tree (Figa),

was published in 2016 and once 47

again received the Kresnik Award, was adapted into a stage play and translated into several languages. Vojnović is only the third person ever to receive three Kresnik Awards.

Đorđić Is Back (Đorđić se vrača, 2021) is his fourth novel.