What do you think?
Rate this book
What Is It Like?
A collection of poetry in translation from Lidija Dimkovska, a poet and novelist from North Macedonia living in Slovenia. Born in 1971, Lidija writes in Macedonian. She has published seven books of poetry, three novels, one American diary and one collection of short stories which have been awarded and translated into 15 languages (English, German, Polish, Hungarian, Slovak, Czech, Romanian, Serbian, Slovenian, French, Croatian, Italian, Albanian, Bulgarian and Latvian).
“Exemplary and haunting, Lidija Dimkovska, who is one of the leading writers of south-east Europe, writes like no-one else. In this Selected Poems (from both of her last books), impeccably translated, we hear the gritty edge to her intelligent compassion, the way she interweaves fantasy and bitter experience, and how her searching poetic gaze hunts down difficult truths. Every one of these poems is a challenge we should rise to.” – Fiona Sampson, author of Two-Way Mirror: The Life of Elizabeth Barrett Browning
“These poems display courage and resilience, they are honest and uncompromising, characteristics that have always been present in the poetry of Lidija Dimkovska.” – Goce Smilevski, author of Freud’s Sister
“Painful, funny, wise, disarming. These poems hit the nail on the head, their aim perfect.” – Helen Mort, author of Division Street and No Map Could Show Them
“Exemplary and haunting, Lidija Dimkovska, who is one of the leading writers of south-east Europe, writes like no-one else. In this Selected Poems (from both of her last books), impeccably translated, we hear the gritty edge to her intelligent compassion, the way she interweaves fantasy and bitter experience, and how her searching poetic gaze hunts down difficult truths. Every one of these poems is a challenge we should rise to.” – Fiona Sampson, author of Two-Way Mirror: The Life of Elizabeth Barrett Browning
“These poems display courage and resilience, they are honest and uncompromising, characteristics that have always been present in the poetry of Lidija Dimkovska.” – Goce Smilevski, author of Freud’s Sister
“Painful, funny, wise, disarming. These poems hit the nail on the head, their aim perfect.” – Helen Mort, author of Division Street and No Map Could Show Them
110 pages, Unknown Binding
Published October 24, 2022
3 people want to read
About the author
Lidija Dimkovska
31 books26 followersPoet and novelist from North Macedonia living in Slovenia. Born in 1971, Lidija writes in Macedonian. She has published seven books of poetry, three novels, one American diary and one collection of short stories which have been awarded and translated into 15 languages (English, German, Polish, Hungarian, Slovak, Czech, Romanian, Serbian, Slovenian, French, Croatian, Italian, Albanian, Bulgarian and Latvian).
Lidija has participated at numerous international literary festivals (Princeton Poetry Festival, Stockholm, Rotterdam, Sarajevo, Belgrade, Vilnius, Manchester, Chicago, Zagreb, Vilenica, Medana, Struga, Leipzig, Lido Adriano, Manchester, Kazan, Dresden, Taipei, Cork, Warsaw, Berlin, etc.) and was a writer-in-residence in London, Berlin, Iowa, Vienna, Graz, Salzburg, Krems, Tirana, and Split.
Lidija has participated at numerous international literary festivals (Princeton Poetry Festival, Stockholm, Rotterdam, Sarajevo, Belgrade, Vilnius, Manchester, Chicago, Zagreb, Vilenica, Medana, Struga, Leipzig, Lido Adriano, Manchester, Kazan, Dresden, Taipei, Cork, Warsaw, Berlin, etc.) and was a writer-in-residence in London, Berlin, Iowa, Vienna, Graz, Salzburg, Krems, Tirana, and Split.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
November 21, 2023
Am citit pentru prima dată poezie scrisă de Lidija Dimkovska după ce am aflat de volumul ăsta tradus din macedoneană, mă întreb de ce nu s-a îngrijit nimeni să-l traducă în limba română, am găsit aici o poezie dureroasă, curajoasă, onestă. Poeme care lovesc crunt.
„My world and your world were divided by a tombstone.
Under it now and then I sense
someone up there sobbing, lighting a candle for me, but I don't know which one of you it is.”
Going Back
When you go back to your home town
you visit museums and galleries,
pause to listen to the buskers,
light candles in all the churches,
buy books by local authors
and the CDs by local bands
which have come out over the last six months,
treat yourself to some chocs from the town factory facing
bankruptcy,
make a detour to the outdoor market you haven't visited for a
long time,
meet friends for an hour or two
before going to a local film or theatre production they're not interested in,
you do a lightning tour of your home town
in just a few days, drinking water from the bottle in your bag,
buying souvenir magnets and keyrings,
sitting on all the surviving benches
from your past,
turning down all the alleyways that have remained the same,
taking photos of the new buildings which look like warts,
mumbling to yourself, incomprehensible to everyone else,
when you go back to your home town
you realise you no longer have one,
that it has turned into a simple fact in a document, Place of Birth, a point of birth and of no return.
Lidija Dimkovska || What is it Like, Wrecking Ball Press 2022, Translated from the Macedonian by Ljubica Arsovska, Patricia Marsh and Peggy Reid.
„My world and your world were divided by a tombstone.
Under it now and then I sense
someone up there sobbing, lighting a candle for me, but I don't know which one of you it is.”
Going Back
When you go back to your home town
you visit museums and galleries,
pause to listen to the buskers,
light candles in all the churches,
buy books by local authors
and the CDs by local bands
which have come out over the last six months,
treat yourself to some chocs from the town factory facing
bankruptcy,
make a detour to the outdoor market you haven't visited for a
long time,
meet friends for an hour or two
before going to a local film or theatre production they're not interested in,
you do a lightning tour of your home town
in just a few days, drinking water from the bottle in your bag,
buying souvenir magnets and keyrings,
sitting on all the surviving benches
from your past,
turning down all the alleyways that have remained the same,
taking photos of the new buildings which look like warts,
mumbling to yourself, incomprehensible to everyone else,
when you go back to your home town
you realise you no longer have one,
that it has turned into a simple fact in a document, Place of Birth, a point of birth and of no return.
Lidija Dimkovska || What is it Like, Wrecking Ball Press 2022, Translated from the Macedonian by Ljubica Arsovska, Patricia Marsh and Peggy Reid.
Displaying 1 of 1 review