Dragan Todorovic

Director of Warwick Writing Programme

Office hours: Thursdays 11:00–13:00 and on Teams. In both cases email me to make an appointment.

Office: FAB 2.55

Biography

Dragan Todorovic is the author of eleven books of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, and has contributed to several collections. His novel Diary of Interrupted Days was shortlisted for Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, Amazon First Novel Award, and other awards. His memoir The Book of Revenge (his first book originally written in English) won The Nereus Writers’ Trust Non-Fiction Prize and was shortlisted for British Columbia's National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction. His collection of interactive poetry Five Walks on Isabella Street was the winner of the Astound International Competition. Several of his stories have been anthologised.

Dragan wrote and directed twenty-four radio plays, and two TV documentaries and hosted over a hundred and fifty live TV interviews (on Culture Channel and 3K, Serbia). He is the author of the biographies of Tom Waits and Bruce Springsteen. He has translated Charles Bukowski (Post Office), Tom Waits, Rod McKuen, Erica Jong, Billy Collins, Louise Glück, Adolfo Bioy Casares, and others.

His articles in Canadian magazines have been shortlisted for National Magazine Award, and he had been part of the prestigious Creative Non-Fiction programme at Banff Centre for the Arts, which resulted in one book chapter and, ultimately, his memoir.

During his years as an Art Director in Canadian advertising, Dragan’s interactive works won several awards in New York Festivals.

His aural essay In My Language I am Smart was performed at Deep Wireless Festival, on CBC Radio One and published on a CD in 2012. His sound works were recently featured on Earlid, a space dedicated to sound art.

His new collection of poetry, When Is Train Passing Through Here? (Kad prolazi voz?) was published early this year in Serbia.

Research Interests

Dragan’s central themes are exile and the space between languages.
Prospective doctoral students should send a description of their project (up to 500 words), a sample of their writing (3,000 words), and provisional bibliography. Dragan particularly encourages projects based on the mix of fiction and creative non-fiction.

Publications

- Book
  - Todorovic, D. (2021) When Is A Train Passing By. Serbia: Ustanova kulture Koraci. Available at: https://ustanovakoracikg.rs/product/kad-prolazi-voz/.
  - Todorovic, D. (2012) Little Red Transister Radio from Trieste. Nine Arches Press. Available at: http://www.ninearchespress.com/LittleRedTransistorRadioFromTrieste.html.
  - Todorovic, D. (2009) Diary of Interrupted Days. Random House, Canada.
  - Todorovic, D. (2009) Pjesme uz koje ne plešem: Priče o ljubavi, borbi i rock and rollu. Rijeka, Croatia: Naklada Uliks.
  - Todorovic, D. (2006) The Book of Revenge: A Blues for Yugoslavia. Toronto, Canada: Random House. Available at: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/179088/the-book-of-revenge-by-dragan-todorovic/9780679313977.
  - Todorovic, D. (1993) Sen & San. Belgrade, Serbia: Dragan Todorovic.
  - Todorovic, D. (1991) Pogled kroz prozor metroa: Tom Waits. Belgrade, Yugoslavia: Tas Press.
  - Todorovic, D. (1989) Tajfun zvani Bruce. Belgrade, Yugoslavia: IIC.
  Book Section
  - Todorovic, D. (2019) “We Are Who We Are Not: Language, Exile, and Nostalgia for the Self”, in Meerzon, Y. and Pewny, K. (eds.) Dramaturgy of Migration: Staging Multilingual Encounters in Contemporary Theatre. Oxon, UK: Routledge, pp. 20-30. Available at: https://www.routledge.com/Dramaturgy-of-Migration-Staging-Multilingual-Encounters-in-Contemporary/Meerzon-Pewny/p/book/9781138576285.
  - Todorovic, D. (2017) “Lili Marlen and the Ghosts: Decoding a song to find a poet”, in Billingham, P. (ed.) Spirituality and Desire in Leonard Cohen’s Songs and Poems: Visions from the Tower of Song. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, pp. 137-157. Available at: https://www.cambridgescholars.com/spirituality-and-desire-in-leonard-cohens-songs-and-poems.
  - Todorovic, D. (2016) “The Migrant’s Tale”, in Herd, D. and Pincus, A. (eds.) Refugee Tales. Manchester, UK: Comma Press, pp. 1-12. Available at: https://commapress.co.uk/books/refugee-tales.
  - Todorovic, D. (2015) “Silk Shawl Over München”, in Goddard, R. (ed.) Five Stories. UK: West Midlands Readers’ Network, pp. 31-38.
  - Todorovic, D. (2015) “Cube — Epistulae ex Ponto”, in Price, T. (ed.) COBRA RES 1.9. UK: Cobra Press, pp. 93-97. Available at: https://www.cobra-res.info/home.
  - Todorovic, D. (2014) “Every Storm”, in Stoker, P., Charis, E., and Davidson, J. (eds.) A Midlands Odyssey. Rugby, UK: Nine Arches Press & Birmingham Literature Festival, pp. 77-88. Available at: https://www.ninearchespress.com/shop.html#!/A-Midlands-Odyssey-various-authors/p/41734345.
  - Todorovic, D. (2011) “Hotel Jugoslavija”, in David Morley, D. and Lokuge, C. (eds.) The Voyage. Battle, UK: Silkworms Ink, pp. 195-202.
  - Todorovic, D. (2000) “Ticket to Fiction: Art & War in Belgrade”, in Echlin, K., Obe, D., and Moon, B. (eds.) To arrive where you are : literary journalism from The Banff Centre for the Arts. Banff, Canada: Banff Centre Press, pp. 30-54. Available at: https://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0920159710/qid=1062730659/sr=1-7/ref=sr_1_0_7/dragantodorov-20.
  - Todorovic, D. (1990) “Džokej pun burbona”, in Tom Waits: Džokej pun burbona. Niš, Yugoslavia: Gradina, pp. 3-14.
  Article
  - Todorovic, D. (2020) “Seed of Self - Six new stories”, Koraci. People’s Library Vuk Karadzic Kragujevac, pp. 14-28. Available at: https://koraci.net/2020/09/драган-тодоровић-семе-себе/.
    
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  Audio
  - Todorovic, D. (2003) “Checkpoint Berlin”. CBC Radio One. Available at: https://soundcloud.com/dragan-todorovic-2/checkpoint-berlin.
  Composition
  - Todorovic, D. (2011) “In My Language I am Smart”. Deep Wireless Festival. Available at: http://www.dragantodorovic.com/projects/in_my_language_I_am_smart.mp3.
  - Todorovic, D. (2016) “Who’s Going to Talk About Small Towns?”. Earlid.org. Available at: http://www.earlid.org/posts/foreign-languages-are-cities-dragan-todorovic/.
  Conference or workshop item
  - Todorovic, D. (2016) “ENCOUNTERS: Silhouettes in our memories”, in. Refugee Tales: Being Detained Indefinitely – A Day of Thought, Performance and Action.
  - Todorovic, D. (2014) “Avatars at an Orgy: Sexual Representations in Modern Literature”, in. Beyond the sheets: Sexualities in the Age of Digital Reproduction. Available at: https://talesbehindtheclassroomdoor.com/2014/03/05/goldsmiths-writers-centre-inaugural-conference-beyond-the-sheets-sexualities-in-the-age-of-digital-reproduction-4th-april-2014/.
  Show / exhibition
  - Todorovic, D. (2022) “Map of the Red Fog”. What is not a map? Available at: https://www.earlid.org/posts/what-is-not-a-map-rock/.
  Internet publication
  - Todorovic, D. (2020) Closing the Book of Revenge. Available at: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/scapvc/theatre/research/current/culturesoftheleft/readings/.
  - Todorovic, D. (2016) In This Language I Shall Live. Edited by J. Schuman. Available at: http://www.earlid.org/posts/in-this-language-i-shall-live/.
  Performance
  - Todorovic, D. (2015) Closing The Book of Revenge. Conference ‘I too remember dust’ - Peacebuilding, Politics and the Arts.

Director of Warwick Writing Programme

Biography

Research Interests

Publications

Book

Book Section

Article

Audio

Composition

Conference or workshop item

Show / exhibition

Internet publication

Performance