Pajtim Statovci (born 1990) is a Finnish novelist. His debut novel, Kissani Jugoslavia, was published in 2014, winning the Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize for best debut novel in Finnish for that year, and was published in 2017 as My Cat Yugoslavia in the UK and US. It was made into a play and staged at the Finnish National Theatre in Helsinki in 2018. His second novel, Tiranan sydän, won the Toisinkoinen Literature Prize for 2016, and was published as Crossing in the UK and the US in 2019. Following the 2019 release of his third novel, Bolla, his publisher announced in February 2024 the upcoming September release of his fourth, Lehmä Synnyttää Yöllä (English title: A Cow Gives Birth At Night).
Early life Statovci was born in Kosovo in 1990 to Albanian parents. In 1992, after the outbreak of war in Yugoslavia, of which Kosovo was a part and where Albanians were persecuted, his family fled to Finland. He studied comparative literature at the University of Helsinki and screenwriting at Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture.
Awards
2014: Shortlisted for the Young Aleksis Literature Prize 2014: Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize (Best Debut) 2015: Shortlisted for the Flame Bearer Prize 2016: Toisinkoinen Literature Prize 2017: Shortlisted for the Future of Finnish Culture Award 2018: Helsinki Writer of the Year Award 2019: Finlandia Award winner for his third novel, Bolla 2019: Finalist for the National Book Award for Translated Literature for Crossing (translated by David Hackston) 2021: Nominated for the Kirkus Prize for Bolla 2024: Finlandia Award winner for his fourth novel, Lehmä synnyttää yöllä
Bibliography Novels
Kissani Jugoslavia, Otava, 2014 (My Cat Yugoslavia, Pantheon Books, 2017; trans. David Hackston). (Finnish); (English). Tiranan Sydän, Otava, 2016 (Crossing, Pantheon Books, 2019; trans. David Hackston). (Finnish); (English). Bolla, Otava, 2019 (Bolla, Pantheon Books, 2021; trans. David Hackston). .Briefly reviewed in the September 13, 2021 issue of The New Yorker. Lehmä synnyttää yöllä, Otava, 2024. (Finnish). ——————— Notes
References