Dubravka Ugrešić

Born in Yugoslavia, the novelist and essayist Dubravka Ugrešić left Croatia in 1993, after condemning the war there and facing condemnation in return. She is now based in Amsterdam. “Whenever I finish writing a book,” she has written, “I lean my ear to the manuscript and listen in panic. Is it bubbly or still? Does it pulsate or is it flat? Warm or cool? A sparkler, or a charred, sputtering little stick?”