Tomaž Šalamun
/Slovenia
Slovenian poet Tomaž Šalamun (1941) is one of Europe’s most prominent poets and a leader of the Eastern European avant-garde. Early in his career he edited the literary magazine Perspektive and was briefly jailed on political charges. He studied art history at the University of Ljubljana. Šalamun is the author of more than 30 collections of poetry in Slovenian and English. He published his first collection, Poker (1966), at the age of 25. His poetry, using elements of surrealism and polyphony, is influenced by the work of Charles Simic and Charles Baudelaire.
He has won the Jenko Prize, Slovenia’s Prešeren and Mladost Prizes, and a Pushcart Prize.
His poetry has been widely anthologized and translated into more than 20 languages.
Šalamun was a Fulbright Fellow at Columbia University. He is a member of the Slovenian Academy of Science and Art and lives in Ljubljana, Slovenia. He teaches occasionally in the United States.