Laslo Blašković

Laslo "Laki" Blašković (born 25 June 1966) is a Serbian writer and publisher and director of the Cultural Center of Novi Sad, Vojvodina, Serbia, where he was born.

Blaskovic graduated at the Philosophic University in Novi Sad, the department for Yugoslav literature; where he has been selected for the assistant for the scientific-research about the Cultural history of the 19th century. He also took part in a project The Serbian biographic dictionary, conducted by Matica Srpska. He received scholarships from the Vojvodina academy of science and art (1990–1991) and the Austrian Kulturkontakt (2008). He was awarded the Heinrich Böll literary scholarship in 2010.

He was an editor in the Literature Association of Novi Sad and the director and the main editor at the Cultural Center of Novi Sad. He writes for radio and television.

He was the main editor of the literary journal Polja (Fields), from the year 2000 to 2007. He is also a member of the Editorial Board for the First Book Edition of Matica Srpska and the main publishing editor at Srpsko Narodno Pozoriste (Serbian National Theater) in Novi Sad.

He published 7 books of poetry: Žene pisaca (The wives of writers), KOV, Vršac, 2006, Jutarnja daljina (The Morning distance), Stylos, Novi Sad, 2002, Životi bacača kocke (Lives of people rolling the dice), Prosveta, Beograd, 1997, Ritam-mašina (The Rhythm – Machine), Četvrti talas, Novi Sad, 1991, Crvene brigade (The red brigades), Bratstvo-jedinstvo, Novi Sad, 1989, Zlatno doba (The Golden era), Matica srpska, Novi Sad, 1987. and Gledaš, Matica srpska, Novi Sad, 1986, and novels: Turnir grbavaca (The tournament of the Hunch-backers), Geopoetika, Beograd, 2007, Madonin šperk (translated into Slovakian by Karol Hmel), Kalligram, Bratislava, 2006, Adamova jabučica (The Throat oh Adam), Narodna knjiga, Beograd, 2005, Madonin nakit (The Jewels of Madona), Filip Višnjić, Beograd, 2003, Mrtva priroda sa satom (Still life with a clock), Stubovi kulture, Beograd, 2000, Svadbeni marš (The Wedding march), Stubovi kulture, 1997. i Imenjak (The Namesake), Prometej, Novi Sad, 1994, an essay book Kraj citata (The end of a quote), Prometej, Novi Sad, 2007 and a book of stories Priča o malaksalosti (The story of feebleness), Arhipelag, Beograd, 2010.

The texts of Laslo Blašković have been translated into Hungarian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Slovakian, Slovenian, Ukrainian, Polish, German, French and the English language.

He is the proud winner of many prestigious awards for literary achievements: Pečat varoši sremskokarlovačke (For the best book of poetry written by younger authors, 1988.), Matićev šal (for the best book of poetry written in Serbo-Croatian in the year of 1989.), The book of the year by the Association of Writers of Vojvodina (for the best novel in Vojvodina, 1997.), The award of the Serbian Academy of Science and Art from the Branko Ćopić foundation (for the best Serbian novel in the year 2005), the Stevan Sremac award (for the best book of stories/novel in the 2007) and the literary scholarship of the “Borislav Pekić” Foundation (for the project of the novel Madonin nakit, 2001).

In the year of 2008, as a part of the international project Sto slovenskih romana, Madonin nakit, written by Blašković, was among the 10 best Serbian novels since the fall of the Berlin Wall and it will be translated into all Slavic languages.

He has been the member of The Serbian PEN Center since 2004 and the member of the board of The Serbian PEN Center since 2006. He is also one of the founders of The Serbian Association for literature and has been a member since 2001. He is also a member of the Managing Board in many important Funds for literature in Serbia. He was a participant of Residency programs for writers which have been organized by the Assembly of Vojvodina. A member of the managing board of the Todor Manojlović foundation.

He has also participated in many International meetings, conferences and festivals for writers in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Zagreb, Sarajevo, Bled Ohrid, Budapest, Ljubljana, Banja Luka, Leipzig etc. He was the art-director of the theoretical concept of the Word day of poetry 2007 in the Cultural centre of Belgrade and the member of the organization board for the First International prose festival in Novi Sad (2007). He took part in The European literature meetings in Sarajevo, 2007 (organized by the French cultural centre André Malraux). In several occasions he participated in The International gatherings of writers in Belgrade, the Square of poets in Budva and many other book fairs and salons in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Niš, Podgorica, Sofia and Herceg Novi. He also attended the literary evenings in Struga, Macedonia.

He organized international gatherings in Novi Sad and other cities in Vojvodina, dedicated to the Hungarian writer and the president of the World PEN centre at that time, György Konrád (1994) and the Serbian literary giants Miloš Crnjanski (1993) and Aleksandar Tišma (2004).

He is married and has two children.