Pajtim Statovci

Pajtim Statovci was born in 1990 to Albanian parents in Kosovo. When he was two years old, his family fled the war in Yugoslavia and relocated to Finland. He holds a master’s degree in comparative literature and is currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Helsinki.

My Cat Yugoslavia (2015) won the Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize for Best Debut, while Tirana’s Heart (2018) was a finalist for the National Book Award. Land of Kings (2021) was awarded Finland’s most prestigious literary prize, the Finlandia Prize, making Statovci the youngest recipient in the prize’s history, and was also nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize. In 2018, he additionally received the Helsinki Writer of the Year award. 

Statovci’s books have been translated into more than 20 languages.