Vladan Matijević was born in 1962 in Čačak. He is one of the most prominent voices of contemporary Serbian literature. He has published eleven books, majority of which have had several editions, and being translated into French, German and Spanish. Some of his stories have been translated into as many as ten languages. He has published Without Disturbing the Chaos (poetry, 1991), Out of Control (novel, 1995), R. C. Unavoidable (novel, 1997; 2017), Self-reduction (poetry, 1999), The Quite Dead (stories, 2000), A Writer from Far Away (novel, 2003), Moments of Joy (novel, 2006), Tough Plays (dramas, 2009), Very Little Light (novel, 2010), Memoirs, Amnesias (essays and notes, 2012) and Freedom of Speech (novel, 2020). His work was awarded with all major Serbian literary prizes: NIN Award, Andrić Prize, Golden Hit Liber, Golden Bestseller, Meša Selimović Prize, Borisav Stanković Prize, Isidora Sekulić Award, among others. He worked in the factory of base chemistry for eighteen years, and since 2005 he has been employed at the Gallery of Nadežda Petrović in Čačak.