Goran Vojnovič

Goran Vojnović (b. 1980) holds a degree from the Ljubljana Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television, where he specialised in film and television directing and screenwriting. He has directed three short films: Fužine zakon (Fužine Rules), Sezona 90/91 (Season 90/91) and Moj sin, seksualni manijak (My Son, a Sex Maniac). He also co-wrote a screenplay with Marko Šantić for the film Good Luck Nedim, which won the Heart of Sarajevo Award and was nominated for the European Film Award in 2006. He is regarded as one of the most talented authors of his generation. Many film magazines and newspapers frequently publish his articles. In 2010 he directed his debut feature film entitled Piran/Pirano. Southern Scum go home! is his bestselling debut novel. Vojnović's novel acts as an encyclopaedia in its creation of urban environment scenery, where the smell of “sarma” (rolled leaf of sour cabbage stuffed with rice and minced meat) and the dictating beats of Southern folk songs penetrate through the walls of overcrowded apartments. A mix of football and Southern talk is an obligatory part of the atmosphere. Ljubljana “ghetto” Fužine is revealed to the reader via a colourful “Čefur” slang, with which the author describes Marko's adolescence and his skirmish with his own identity, parents, surrounding stereotypes, etc. The fate of a Fužine resident, a cobweb of causes and outcomes, where the burden of responsibility is justly divided, arises from the bitter-sweet humour of Marko's tale. The novel Southern Scum go Home! is an elegant story, unparalleled in Slovene literature when it comes to the complexity of the treatment of immigrants. In 2011 he published his second novel Yugoslavia, my country which achieved immediate success.

Sample translations

English - "Southern Scum Go Home" (2008) / Translated by: Gregor Timothy Čeh German - "Čefurji raus!" (2008) English - "Yugoslavia, my country" (2012) / Translated by: Gregor Timothy Čeh English - "Yugoslavia, my country" (2012) / Translated by Hannah Bryant English - "We the international comunity" (2012) / Translated by Olivia Hellewell and Katherine Edwards

From the media

A promising, readable, entertaining and well-weighed debut novel, which makes a firm cut into the ailing immigrant social tissue.
(Mladina, 2008) Southern Scum go Home! is a wonderful collage of short stories about life in the ghetto, basketball, babes, fathers in undershirts, differences between the Serbs from Bosnia and the Serbs from Serbia, friendships between various nations of the former Yugoslavia, still more: these stories contain more humor than most similar Slovene compilations.
(Indirekt, 2008)