Igor Karlovšek

Igor Karlovšek is a writer, screenwriter and lawyer. He was born on 9 December 1958 in Celje. He spent his high school years at the First High School in Celje, and he obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Law. His first writings were published in various magazines, and at fifteen, he published his first novel. In 2004, his novel Gimnazijec (High School Student) received the Večernica award.

The content of his novels is largely socially topical, drawn from everyday life. As a lawyer, he deals with different social issues and people living on the edge every day. A characteristic of his work is verismo, which can be found in very detailed descriptions of police rules, the work of courts and other official institutions. He says he can physically see and feel some scenes and chapters during his preliminary preparations, when he is “writing the novel in his mind”. “The actual technical writing is then more or less only a faithful following of the story that has already played out in my mind; the polyphonous structure of the novels is therefore in my mind before I actually start writing.” This simultaneous unfolding of different stories infuses his works with extraordinary tension and drama.