Lidija Dimkovska is a poet, novelist, and translator. She was born in Skopje, Macedonia. In her native language she has published eight books, and is the recipient of numerous literary awards. Her work has been translated into more than 20 languages. She lives in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Ljubica Arsovska (translator)
Ljubica Arsovska has worked on English translations of plays, poems, short stories, and novels, including Dimkovska's Do Not Awaken Them with Hammers (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2006).
Peggy Reid (translator)
Peggy Reid has received many awards, including the Macedonian Literary Translators' Society Award and two first prizes at the Stratford-upon-Avon Poetry Festival for her own poetry. She teaches English at Saints Cyril and Methodius University.
In pH Neutral History, Lidija Dimkovska's jagged, unapologetic poetry looks deeply beyond the shattered mirror of contemporary European life. Deftly translated from the Macedonian by Arsovska and Reid, Dimkovksa's lines are self-confident even as they swerve through two languages to reveal a third layer of intensity. The poems are pure energy made manifest, and their fast-moving dialogues soon enough implicate the reader.
"Dimkovska doesn't ask the easy questions: 'To dig out what is live in my writing / do I have to bury those living in the world?' This 10th collection ... grapples with a world at once delightfully surreal and painfully real... Dimkovska is a poet English-language readers would be poorer without."
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
Copper Canyon Press
