Selma Skenderović

Selma Skenderović (2001) is a writer and poet, president of Young PEN Slovenia, and editor of the magazine Mentor. At the age of 19, she became the youngest author to win the Urška Festival of Young Literature in 2020. A year later, her short prose debut Zakaj molčiš, Hava? (Why Are You Silent, Hava?) was published and has since been translated into several languages. In 2022, the Slovenian Book Agency (JAK) selected her and her debut book for the Readers of Europe project; in the same year, she was nominated for the Peace Prize, while her book was shortlisted for Best Literary Debut. In 2023, she received the Best Young Author Award at the Sarajevo Book Fair. In 2024, her novel In če vsi pozabijo (And If Everyone Forgets) was published by Cankarjeva založba. In 2025, the Slovenian Book Agency selected the novel for translation at the 15th International Translation Seminar of Slovenian Literature.

Photo by Matej Maček