
Kristian Novak’s The Case of My Own Peril wins the coveted Fric Award for best novel
17/01/2025In the last days of 2024, Kristian Novak’s most recent novel The Case of My Own Peril received one of the most prestigious regional literary prizes, Fric Award. The award, named after the nickname of the greatest Croatian writer, Miroslav Krleža, celebrates works of fiction written in Croatian, Bosnian, Serbian and Montenegrian languages and published in 2023/2024.
The jury selected this piercing tale about justice and corruption in modern-day Croatia among 6 finalists: Magdalena Blažević: Harvest Season (Fraktura), Miljenko Jergović: The War (Fraktura), Kristian Novak: The Case of My Own Peril (OceanMore), Tanja Radović: Ode to Youth (Meandar Media), Marko Tomaš: A Book for Maja (VBZ) and Ante Tomić: Hope (Hena Com).
The jury elaborated their choice with the following statement: “In The Case of My Own Peril, Kristian Novak revisits the theme of the unsolvable suicide which is, like all suicides, fueled by the social violence. Much like in the previous novels, Novak asks his readers how come we, as a society, don't have a stance on violence, how come we consider it ''normal''.”
The Case of My Own Peril won all the major prizes in this literary season: Ksaver Šandor Gjalski Award for best work of prose, the Vladimir Nazor Award for Literature, a national award for achievements in arts and the Meša Selimović Award for best novel published in Bosnia, Montenegro, Croatia and Serbia.
Foto: (c) Iva Perković