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Writing 

 

Café Wars

Award winning novel - Café Wars was displayed on the New Zealand Rights Holders Stand at the Frankfurt Book Fair 12 - 16 October 2011.

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Café Wars is set in the cities of Trieste in Italy and Ljubljana in the neighboring republic of Slovenia. It examines the experiences of a group of artists and their friends in the early 1990s, during the breakup of Yugoslavia. Situated as they are on the border, some Triestines have historical and family connections in the region to the east.  As the reverberations from the conflict reach into the cafés and studios of the city, daily life is inevitably overshadowed.

Artist Max Kravos is in love with the flamboyant and enigmatic Silvana, a woman of the Istrian diaspora, and is preparing a joint exhibition with her in Slovenia.  Lorena, his partner - independent and ambitious, is seduced by the promise of big money to enter into dubious dealings with black marketeers. Nicky, a young New Zealander, gradually becomes drawn into their lives, shedding some innocence in the process.

Published 2005 by Tara Publishing, New Zealand. ISBN 0-476-01606-1 

  

Premio Letterario Internazionale Trieste Scritture di Frontiera dedicato a Umberto Saba 2006.

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