Robert Perišić (Split, 1969) is a Croatian writer, translated in a number of European countries and in the USA, winner of awards in Croatia and abroad. He is best-known as the author of novels and short stories, but he also writes poetry, essays and dramatic texts. He has worked as a film scriptwriter as well.
His novel Naš čovjek na terenu (Our Man in the Field) was a hit in Croatia; it has been awarded the Jutarnji List Prize for best prose and Literaturpreis der Steiermärkischen Sparkasse (Graz); it was also a literary discovery for the American audiences, so in 2013 he was included in the lists of translations and books of the year in the USA, where the book met critical acclaim of the major media (The New Yorker, Publisher’s Weekly, National Public Radio, etc.), as well as authors such as Jonathan Franzen.
In Serbia, his published works include two short story books (Fabrika knjiga), two books of selections from stories, two novels and a book of stories/essays (Lom). Perišić’ latest novel Područje bez signala (No Signal Area) was published in Serbia by Lom at the end of 2015.
He lives and works in Zagreb as a freelance writer.
Works: Dvorac Amerika (Castle America, 1995, poetry); Možeš pljunuti onoga tko bude pitao za nas (You Can Spit in the Face of the One Who Asks about Us, 1999, short stories); Užas i veliki troškovi (Horror and High Costs, 2002, short stories); Naš čovjek na terenu (Our Man in the Field, 2007, novel); Uvod u smiješni ples (An Introduction to the Funny Dance, 2011, prose/essay); Jednom kasnije (Once Later, 2012, poetry); Kultura u predgrađu (Culture in the Suburbs, drama; Gavella, Zagreb, 2000); 100 minuta Slave (100 Minutes of Fame, 2004, feature film script); Područje bez signala (No Signal Area, 2015, novel)
Robert Perisic is a light bright with intelligence and twinkling with irony…
Jonathan Franzen
Exceptional novels are more than just the story told. They cut through a number of constellations, discuss the topics of family, love, art, politics and money. It is amazing how Perišić’ Our Man in Iraq envelops all the above mentioned, while it remains painfully witty.
Laura Farmer, The Eastern Iowa Gazette
Robert Perišić depicts, with acerbic wit, a class of urban elites…
The New Yorker
A discovery for the American audiences.
ZYZZYVA Magazine
A weird and authentic novel.
Alan Cheuse, National Public Radio
Perišić’ Area is an excellent, complex, powerful as well as a witty novel; “ours” but at the same time worldly…
Jagna Pogačnik, Jutarnji list
The new novel by Robert Perišić, Area without Signal – a hilarious, ironic, brutal and sentimental (post)transitional tour de force… It is hard to put down Area without Signal.
Darko Milošić, Zarez
Area without Signal is a kind of a novelistic mile-stone, a novel that could mean a turning point, which opens a new lane on the highway of the contemporary Croatian prose.
Božidar Alajbegović, Radio Croatia 3
Pure and one hundred percent rock’n’roll in the best sense of the word.
Bojan Marjanović, booksa.hr
One of the crucial layers in Perišić’ novel Our Man in Iraq is the very sensitive love story, not too sentimental, even less cynical, but exciting in its well-balanced typicalness (not stereotypicalness). Highly polished urban (post)romanticism, from laughter to the lump in the throat, a couple of times over…
Teofil Pančić, Vreme