8.7.2017
Novak has yet again, for the second time, been the winner of tportal award for the best Croatian novel, worth HRK 50,000, in addition to the sculpture of the computer keyboard and a Lenovo phablet
Tenth consecutive edition of tportal Literary Award, which is granted to the author of the best novel written in the Croatian language and published in Croatia, has been given to Kristian Novak for his third novel entitled 'Gypsy, yet the Handsomest', published by OceanMore. The award worth HRK 50,000, the sculpture of the computer keyboard, and a Lenovo phablet were presented to him on 7 July during the award-winning ceremony in Zagreb.
Kristian Novak has won tportal Literary Award for the best novel for the second time, since before 'Gypsy' he was granted it for the novel 'Black Mother Earth', which this season saw a successful theatrical adaptation directed by Dora Ruždjak Podolski at the Zagreb Youth Theatre.
Novak was presented the award during the ceremony held in the Zagreb-based Velvet Cafe, which brought together a large number of writers and other people involved in culture, who had arrived to mark the tenth jubilee edition of tportal Literary Award. In addition to Novak, the awards were presented also to other finalists, for whom Lenovo Croatia had prepared Lenovo phablets.
Davor Tomašković, President of the Management Board of Hrvatski Telekom, stated he was delighted with the fact that the Company had been providing support for this award for the tenth consecutive year, as well as to many other cultural initiatives, such as Museum of Contemporary Art and a broad range of festivals. This tradition will certainly continue in the future, he noted.
'Tportal is one of the leading news portals in Croatia with almost 1,200,000 readers a month, and it is primarily through this readership potential, combined with this project, that we are giving a powerful impetus to culture, literature, and writers', stated Danijela Jozi, Editor-in-Chief of tportal. She pointed out that an average of 50 novels have been submitted for the competition during the last ten years, which has resulted in an impressive figure of a total of almost 500 novels.
'We are particularly delighted with the fact that this year the competition amongst the top five ranking novels – finalists is as severe as was the case last year', concluded Jozić.
About this year's competition
It has to be highlighted that 47 novels published in 2016 were submitted to this year's edition of tportal competition and the five-member Expert Panel this year comprised of Miroslav Mićanović (President of the Expert Panel), publicist and literary critic Katarina Luketić, writer and critic Jadranka Pintarić, translator Ursula Burger, and theatre director Ivica Buljan.
They first selected 11 semi-finalists and hence 5 finalists. Consequently, the shortlist comprised of the following novels: 'The Barn Disease' by Slađana Bukovac, 'EEG' by Daša Drndić, 'The Memory of the Forest' by Damir Karakaš, 'Gypsy, yet the Handsomest' by Kristian Novak, and 'Singer in the Night' by Olja Savičević Ivančević.
In the explanation of their decision to give tportal Literary Award to Kristian Novak for his novel 'Gypsy, yet the Handsomest', the Expert Panel pointed out that their decision was unanimous.
The third novel by Kristian Novak starts with a moral about primordial fear (of noise and falling), and it ends with the consequences of phobias we develop through culture, i.e. with an agonising story about acquisition of autonomy and the right to identity beyond predestination and social norms. A dramatic story permeates four narrative flows, through four authentic voices. It apparently focuses on a murder, whilst it actually focuses on a forbidden love between a middle-aged woman from Međimurje and a young local Roma man. Against the backdrop of a culture clash, amongst which there is a clash between the Middle-Eastern and the domestic culture, the Fear of the Other crystallises, irrespective of the way they are – since they do not belong to 'us'. The author convincingly builds complex relationships and creates tensions between different cultures, between an individual and a group, i.e. between individual and collective psychology, penetrating deeper into the subconscious, into dark layers of common concepts and stereotypes. When the voice of the young Roma man assumes both phantasmagoric and hallucinatory features, illusions both about oneself and the Other transform into an excruciating 'cultural discomfort'. The linguistic refinement of the text, the dynamic dialogue form, comprehensive elaboration of differences amongst the narrative voices account for the powerful meaning conveyed by this perennial novel' – it is a quote included in the explanatory text which is entirely available at the following link, in which tportal Expert Panel also provided their opinion on novels by other finalists.
roman@tportal.hr in brief
Since 2008, tportal literary award for the best Croatian novel has been granted nine times, and over the years it has become a relevant fact in the local cultural scene. It is the only national literary award given for a novel written in the Croatian language, published by a publisher registered in Croatia, and, in addition to the promotion of the authors, it is also striving to promote publishing in Croatia.
Tportal literary award roman@tportal.hr over the previous years has been granted to the authors Olja Savičević Ivančević for her novel ‘Farewell, Cowboy’ and Sibila Petlevski for ‘The Time of Lies’, as well as authors Dalibor Šimpraga for the novel ‘Anastasia’, Kristian Novak for the novel ‘Black Mother Earth’, Tahir Mujičić for ‘Be Hamlet, Mr Hamlet’, Drago Glamuzina for his novel ‘Three’, Zoran Malkoč for 'Roki Raketa', Ivica Đikić for ‘I Dreamt the Elephants’, and Slobodan Šnajder for ‘The Brass Times’.