Personal Identification Number
The personal identification number (PIN) is formal proof that we exist with our own identity, that we are citizens of a specific country and belong to a specific nation. But what could be the fate of a person who lives solely as a PIN – not just as a refugee, but also as a foreigner without an identity in their own family?
Nikos Avram is a Greek from Cyprus who fled his homeland in Macedonia after the ethnic division of the island state in 1974 – an event that left a deep trauma in his mind. The bonds within his family gradually disintegrate, buried secrets open incurable wounds, and his home becomes nothing more than a shelter for a refugee painfully experiencing loneliness, alienation, and a sense of existential emptiness.
A touching story about the dichotomy between ancestral roots and national identity. A novel about one of the fateful situations characteristic of our time – the existence of the exile, dehumanization, and the unchanging need for closeness and humanity.
Lidija Dimkovska
Lidija Dimkovska, born in Skopje, now resides in Ljubljana, Slovenia, where she works as an author and translator of Slovenian and Romanian literature in Macedonian. She has published seven poetry collections, four novels for adults, one novel for children and young adults, an American diary and one short story collection, and has edited four anthologies. Her books have been translated into seventeen languages. Her novels Hidden Camera and A Spare Life both received the Association of Writers of Macedonia’s Stale Popov award; the latter also received the European Union Prize for Literature in 2013 and was nominated for the BTBA in the USA. Her novel Non-Oui was shortlisted for the Stale Popov award as well as for the Balkanika Prize and longlisted for ALTA Award in the USA. Her latest novel for adults Personal Identity Number received both the Novel of the Year Award in North Macedonia and the regional Štefica Cvek award for feminist literature from the Western Balkans, while Dimkovska herself was named Author of the Year at the 2024 Skopje Book Fair and so far has four editions in Macedonian, being translated or in process of translation in Slovenian, Croatian, Italian, Serbian, Urdu, Greek itc. Her first novel for children and young adults “The Thirteen¨ (2025) has been shortlisted for the Association of Writers of Macedonia’s Vanco Nikoleski award. Dimkovska’s poetry has also received numerous awards and she has participated in many festivals, readings and residencies.
