Dragan Todorovic

On research leave in 2026

During the leave, I will not be taking new PhD applications.

Office: FAB 2.55

Biography Dragan Todorovic is the author of eleven books of fiction, non-fiction and poetry, and his work has appeared in several anthologies. His novel Diary of Interrupted Days was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and the Amazon First Novel Award, among others. His memoir The Book of Revenge, his first book written in English, won the Nereus Writers' Trust Non-Fiction Prize and was shortlisted for the British Columbia National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction. His collection of interactive poetry, Five Walks on Isabella Street, won the Astound International Competition.

Todorovic wrote and directed twenty-four radio plays and two television documentaries, and hosted more than 150 live television interviews on Culture Channel and 3K in Serbia. He is also the author of biographies of Tom Waits and Bruce Springsteen. He has translated Charles Bukowski (Post Office), Tom Waits, Rod McKuen, Erica Jong, Billy Collins, Louise Glück and others into Serbo-Croatian, and Adolfo Bioy Casares (from Spanish), Daniil Kharms (from Russian) and others into English.

His articles in Canadian magazines have been shortlisted for the National Magazine Awards. He was a participant in the Creative Non-Fiction programme at the Banff Centre for the Arts, which led to a book chapter and, ultimately, to his memoir.

While working as an art director in Canadian advertising, he won several awards at the New York Festivals for his interactive work.

His sound-art poem In My Language I Am Smart was performed at the Deep Wireless Festival, broadcast on CBC Radio One, and released on CD in 2012. His sound works have also been featured on Earlid, a platform dedicated to sound art.

His most recent poetry collection, Kad prolazi voz? (When Does a Train Come Through?), was published in Serbia in 2022.

Todorovic has been a professional writer since the age of seventeen.

Publications

Books

[selection]

• Todorovic, D. (2022) Kad prolazi voz [When Does a Train Come Through?]. Kragujevac, Serbia: Ustanova kulture Koraci. Available at: https://ustanovakoracikg.rs/product/kad-prolazi-voz/
• Todorovic, D. (2012) Little Red Transistor Radio from Trieste. Rugby, UK: Nine Arches Press. Available at: https://www.ninearchespress.com/LittleRedTransistorRadioFromTrieste.html
• Todorovic, D. (2009) Diary of Interrupted Days. Toronto, Canada: 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 Canada. Available at: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/179088/the-book-of-revenge-by-dragan-todorovic/9780679313977
• Todorovic, D. (1993) Sen & San. Belgrade, Yugoslavia: 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 Sections

• Todorovic, D. (2020) 'Seme sebe: Six New Stories', Koraci. Kragujevac, Serbia: National Library Vuk Karadžić, pp. 14–28. Available at: https://koraci.net/2020/09/%d0%b4%d1%80%d0%b0%d0%b3%d0%b0%d0%bd-%d1%82%d0%be%d0%b4%d0%be%d1%80%d0%be%d0%b2%d0%b8%d1%9b-%d1%81%d0%b5%d0%bc%d0%b5-%d1%81%d0%b5%d0%b1%d0%b5/
• 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. Abingdon, 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/product/978-1-4438-1686-1
• 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 and Birmingham Literature Festival, pp. 77–88.
• Todorovic, D. (2011) 'Hotel Jugoslavija', in 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.
• Todorovic, D. (1990) 'Džokej pun burbona', in Tom Waits: Džokej pun burbona. Niš, Yugoslavia: Gradina, pp. 3–14.

Articles

Todorovic's articles in THIS and NOW magazines were shortlisted for Canadian National Magazine Awards in 1997 and 1998. He was voted the Best Young Journalist in Serbia before the Yugoslav wars.

Please note that the total number of articles published in magazines, newspapers, and other periodicals in Yugoslavia, Serbia and Canada is higher than 2,500. He has published in Start, Rock, Borba, NIN, NON, This, Now, Toronto Star and other pubications, in Serbian and English. Selection is available upon request.

Audio

• Todorovic, D. (2003) Checkpoint Berlin. CBC Radio One. Available at: https://soundcloud.com/dragan-todorovic-2/checkpoint-berlin

Compositions

• Todorovic, D. (2016) Who's Going to Talk About Small Towns? Earlid. Available at: https://www.earlid.org/posts/foreign-languages-are-cities-dragan-todorovic/
• Todorovic, D. (2010) In My Language I Am Smart. Deep Wireless Festival. Available at: https://www.dragantodorovic.com/projects/in_my_language_I_am_smart.mp3

Conference or Workshop Items

• Todorovic, D. (2016) 'Encounters: Silhouettes in Our Memories', Refugee Tales: Being Detained Indefinitely – A Day of Thought, Performance and Action.
• Todorovic, D. (2014) 'Avatars at an Orgy: Sex as the Malfunction of Fiction', Beyond the Sheets: Sexualities in the Age of Digital Reproduction, Goldsmiths, University of London, 4 April. 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? Earlid. Available at: https://www.earlid.org/posts/what-is-not-a-map-rock/
• Todorovic, D. (Gallery of Cultural Centre Belgrade, 1994): Art & War. Conceptual exhibition of war-related memorabilia.

Internet Publications

• Todorovic, D. (2020) Closing The Book of Revenge. University of Warwick. 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. Earlid. Available at: https://www.earlid.org/posts/in-this-language-i-shall-live/

Performances

• Todorovic, D., Fredricksson, K., Bailey, S. and Fitzgerald, D. (Free Range Festival, Canterbury, 2022) The Migrant's Tale. Free Range, Canterbury, 12 May. Available at: https://freerangecanterbury.org/fr233-refugee-tales-dragan-todorovic-kristin-fredricksson/
• Todorovic, D. (Winchester University, 2015) Closing The Book of Revenge. Conference: 'I Too, Remember Dust': Peacebuilding, Politics and the Arts.