Uroš Zupan was born on August 25, 1963 in Trbovlje, where he attended primary and secondary school. He graduated from the Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana with a degree in comparative literature. So far, he has published the poetry collections Sutre (Sutras, 1991), Reka (River, 1993), Odpiranje delte (Opening of the Delta, 1995), Nasledstvo (Succession, 1998), Drevo in vrabec (A Tree and a Sparrow, 1999), Nafta (Oil, 2002), Lokomotive (Locomotives, 2004), Jesensko listje (Autumn Leaves, 2006), Copati za hojo po Kitajski (Slippers for Walking in China, 2008), Oblika raja (The Shape of Paradise, 2011), Počasna plovba (Slow Sailing, 2014), Avtomobilski bluz (Automobile Blues, 2016), S prsti premikamo topel zrak (With Fingers We Move the Warm Air, 2018), Sanjska knjiga (Dream Book, 2020), and Psica in poletje (She-Dog and the Summer, 2022). Moreover, he has authored twelve books of essays: Svetloba znotraj pomaranče (Light inside an Orange, 1996), Pesem ostaja ista (The Song Remains the Same, 2000), Pešec (Walker, 2003), Čitanka Panini (Textbook Panini, 2007), Rilke proti Novim fosilom (Rilke versus Novi Fosili, 2009), Visoko poletje na provincialnih bazenih (High Summer at the Provincial Swimming-pools, 2011), Opičje žleze, telefoni in nesmrtnost (Monkey Glands, Telephones and Immortality, 2013), Sto romanov in nekaj komadov (One Hundred Novels and a Few Pieces, 2014), Sedeti v temi (Sitting in the Darkness, 2017), Ene in drugi (The Ones and the Others, 2018), Arheologija sedanjosti (Archaeology of the Present, 2020), Znamenja v kroženju (Signs in Circling, 2022). His translation oeuvre includes books of poetry by the Hebrew poet Yehuda Amichai, American poet Billy Collins, Serbian poet Aleksandar Ristović and Bosniak poet Abdulah Sidran. For his poetry he has received the Slovenian Book Fair’s First Book Award, the Golden Bird Award, the Prešeren Fund Award, the Jenko Award, the Župančič Award, the Tončka Čeč Plaque, and the Velenjica – Cup of Immortality. He has received international awards as well – Majska rukovanja (Titograd, Yugoslavia, 1990), Hermann-Lenz-Preis (Langenburg, Germany, 1999), Premio della VI Edizione del Festival Internazionale di Poesia (Genova, Italy, 2000) and Wysłava Szymborska Prize (Krakow, Poland, 2016). His books have been translated into several foreign languages. Living with his family and dog on the outskirts of Ljubljana, he has been making a living as an independent cultural worker for thirty years.
