Damir Karakaš was born in 1967 in the Lika area, the mountainous region of Croatia. He was a reporter for Croatian daily Večernji list from war-fronts in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo. In 2000 he published his first novel Kombetars (2000) and later a short stories collection Kino Lika (2001) which earned cult status on the Croatian literary scene. He further published a ‘docu-novel’ How I entered Europe, and two more short story collections Eskimos and Colonel Beethoven. His writing has been translated into a dozen languages and has appeared in some of the most prominent literary magazines (McSweeney’s Quarterly in the US and Neue Rundschau, in Germany). His recent novel Proslava (Celebration) was adapted for the big screen and won Best Film at the Pula Film Festival. Karakaš is the recipient of several awards in the region, among them the latest is the Mesa Selimovic Award for Best Novel in 2022 for Okretište (Turnaround). He also published the novels Perfect Place for Misery (about his experiences living as an undocumented migrant in Paris), Blue Moon and Forest Memories which the critics have placed side by side with the work by some of the best writers from former Yugoslavia (Ivo Andrić, Danilo Kiš, etc.). He lives in Zagreb.