Name Zoran Stefanovic | Role Author | |
Zoran Stefanović ([zɔ̌.ran stefǎːnoʋitɕ], Serbian Cyrillic: Зоран Стефановић, born 21 November 1969 in Loznica) is an award-winning Serbian author, publisher and cultural activist, best known as the founder of several cultural networks, including Project Rastko. His works were published and produced in Europe and US.
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He made his debut in theater and film in 1987 and he graduated in dramaturgy and screenwriting in 1994 at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts (University of Arts in Belgrade). He lives in Belgrade.
Writings
Some of his works belong to science fiction and fantasy - in the theater ("Slavic Orpheus," "Fable of the Cosmic Egg"), graphic novels and comics ("The Third Argument”, based on stories by Milorad Pavić, "Under the Seal of the Wolf"), prose (novel Verigaši) and in film/television ("Narrow Paths").
His other works are documentary, such as the TV-series "The Janus’ Face of History," or films "Lives of Kosta Hakman" and "Music of Silence" .
His theater plays, prose and graphic novels have been translated into Macedonian, Romanian, Slovene, English, French, Polish, Ukrainian and Russian.
Cultural work
Stefanović was the principal founder of several international cultural networks: Project Rastko (network of digital libraries), Distributed Proofreaders Europe (international digitization of cultural heritage), the Project Gutenberg Europe (Beta version, a public digital library) and similar communities in the fields of digitization, lexicography and pop-culture.
He is also active in cultural and scientific projects since 1993, especially in the former Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Ukraine, Russia and Poland, including preservation of minority cultures as well as initiative for Balkan Cultural Network, with Greek cultural activist and music producer Nikos Valkanos.
Since mid-1990s he promotes the philosophy of open sources and free knowledge, as "the very foundation of every civilized human society." He actively supports several regional Wikipedias, particularly in Eastern and Central Europe since 2004.
Awards and honors
As a writer, playwright and screenwriter, he has been nationally and internationally awarded and short-listed some twenty times, including The "Josip Kulundžić" award for theatrical play, Gold medal for the screenplay at the 42nd Festival of Yugoslav documentary and short films, two wins in Yugoslav literary SF/F competitions "Znak Sagite", Grand Prix for the best Serbian graphic novel and Award for the best graphic novel script, The Edition of the Year of The Belgrade Book Fair. He was nominated for the Prix Europa award in Berlin and the Prix Italia award in Rome.
For his cultural and publishing work he has been also nationally and internationally recognized, including three times the Annual award of the Informatics Society of Serbia, ten YU Web Top 50 awards (SR Web Top 50) and Webfest 2007 Award for the best culture site of the Western Balkans. He has been nominated for United Nations World Summit Award and Central European Review Content Crown award.