“CLIMBING UP THE LADDER OF SUCCESS” WITH BILJANA CRVENKOVSKA: NOW, I AM A PROFESSIONAL WRITER, AND I MIGHT JUST BE THE ONLY ONE LIVING OFF THEIR WRITING
Their personal attributes have brought them a significant professional success. These are the stories of our successful people published in the section “Climbing up the ladder of success”. Fakulteti.mk and Pivara Skopje Educational Center in the training “Skills to Succeed” show you the way to the stars.
Photographed by Kire Galevski
Biljana S. Crvenkovska is a writer, a screenwriter and a translator, with master’s degree in philosophy and a name that is becoming more and more prominent, especially when it comes to children’s literature. Her work and signature can be seen on a rising number of novels and illustrated novels for children, including: “What Did Santa Dream About?”, “The Super Witch, the Cat and the Six Magic Cookies”, TKCP: A Claw in the Dark”, “TKCP: The Castle of Thousand Cats” and “The Star of Darkness and the Creatures from Scaryville”. She is also the author of many picture books and activity books, out of which the widely known show called “Bibi’s World”: “Bibi, Bobi and the Cholocate House”, “Bibi and the Giants”, “Bibi, Bobi and the Dragon”, “Bibi, Bobi and the Ohrid Lake Monster”, “Bibi, Bobi and the Naughty Egg”, “The Book of Knowledge”, “My Favourite Spots”, “Bibi’s World from A to Z”, “The Hidden Valley”. Brilliant pieces of work, modern fairytales that amaze readers, especially the youngest ones.
“The Wicked Forest” is her publishing house, accommodating her entire creativity and freedom.
Photographed by Kire Galevski
I enjoy exploring
By vocation, she is a philosophy professor. She has a master’s degree in philosophy, and her master’s thesis was tackling the topic of semiotics of the myth, a topic that be interpreted to span across several areas.
– Even my graduation paper was somewhat “interdisciplinary” – it was about the semiotics of the silence in Samuel Beckett’s plays. I enjoy exploring. Finding connections among seemingly incompatible things. That is probably why I have worked at marketing agencies (as copywriter and strategic planner), in marketing (again, marketing strategies), as a journalist and editor at magazines and internet portals, as well as a publishing editor. However, all my previous jobs, they all have something in common, a lot of writing. Now, I am a professional writer, and I might just be the only one living off their writing. Although I also work as a publisher and an editor, in a way, I still see that as a hobby, something I do in between my freelance engagements as a screenwriter or writer in general – says Crvenkovska.
Photographed by Kire Galevski
“Bibi’s World” – the first show
Her name can often be heard in the air, precisely due to the fact that she is simply omnipresent, involved in several projects at the same time.
– I write 24/7 (this is the bare truth), and understandably, many of those projects eventually become visible – some of them can be found on TV or on YouTube, while others in bookstores. “Bibi’s World” is my first children’s series, and of course, although I chronologically before that I started working on another show called “Zoki-Poki” which was out the last spring. They are both equally close to my heart, although “Zoki-Poki” was my first adventure as a screenwriter and it was really a wonderful process to be working with the co-screenwriter Sasho Kokalanov, and the producer Robert Naskov, as well as with the directors Marija Apchevska, Aco Popovski, Darijan Pejovski and Rasha Petrovikj. In the meantime, I also started working on the “Pet plus familija” show, since the last season already, so the new season will be out shortly. However, the biggest challenge for me, as a screenwriter, is the series I am working on currently called “When You Fall” in cooperation with OXO production, which already won the price at the Script Pool TV contest, as a part of the Industry Tallinn & Baltic event in the frame of the Tallinn Black Nights film festival, one of the biggest film festivals in Europe. And of, course, let us not forget the books I’m writing, both for children and adults – added Crvenkovska.
Illustration by Katerina Nikolovska
Macedonian audience started recognizing you by Bibi’s World
When we asked her how her ladder of success looks like, she said that her story started back in the eight grade, when she wrote her first collection of poems.
– It is still somewhere in my old bedroom, in an old notebook. Professionally, the first children’s book I wrote was the novel “What did Santa Dream About”, which actually derived from an old children’s drama text called “Santa’s Dreams”. I believe that my first serious success as a children’s author was me “going out” from Macedonia, with the translation of the novel called “The Super Witch, the Cat and the Six Magic Cookies” in Serbian, published by “Laguna”, entitled “Six Magic Cookies” (Shest charobnih kolachicha). However, I believe that it was with the first animated show and books from “Bibi’s World” that the Macedonian readers (I refer to both children and parents) finally learned about what I do. In terms of my initial endeavors as a screenwriter, I owe a lot to Vardan Tozija, who recommended me as a screenwriter to the show “Zoki Poki” and to Sasho Kokalanov, with whom I have an excellent cooperation working on several projects – added Crvenkovska.
Photographed by Kire Galevski
I’m my own boss
What she believes is essential to her career is the fact that she actually never grew up.
– The flame of the childish enthusiasm and that unstoppable need for constant exploration and discovering new things is still burning inside me. The desire for mental traveling in all possible universes. Setting the bar even higher and seeking new and higher challenges. I’m full of creative energy and it never dries up, on the contrary, the more busy I am, the more creative I am and new ideas come out from me. Nevertheless, I believe that the boldest step I have made in my life is a step requiring a child-like courage to dive into the murky waters without being aware of what lies down on the bottom, is deciding for work for myself and becoming a freelancer, which implies, being free. Working for a company, with strict working hours and an office, with breaks and timetables, and long meetings and drinking tons of coffee and sitting in front of a computer, and making small talks being stuck at the same office day in and day out – luckily, that is in the past for me. That step requires a complete awareness of what you are about to encounter, readiness for every rise and fall, financial instability, risks and everything above and beyond; but on the other hand, it brings a sense of liberation and makes you a happy person. Freedom has no price and cannot be exchanged for anything in the world – emphasized Crvenkovska.
The next thing she will be investing her energy and writing elasticity into is writing new books and the new season of “Bibi’s World”, among which the book she is really proud of and which is still work in progress, “Bibi’s Alphabet Book”.
Photographed by Kire Galevski
Next goal – movie script
– We also have a new season of the “Pet plus familija”, the last picture book “The dog That Meowed and the Cat That Barked” in cooperation with the illustrator Sanja Simoska published by my small publishing house “The Wicked Forest”. In the last days of this year, I’m expecting the publishing of my second adult novel “A House Above the Waves” and at the same time, with eight small fellow publishers, we are organizing the Small New Year’s Book Fair, which will take place outside, in the City Park, from the 24th to the 27th of December. All in all, a beautiful end of the year in spite of all hardships around us – says Crvenkovska.
Illustration by Katerina Nikolovska
She finds motivation and inspiration in everything she does around herself.
– I have the entire support in the world from my partner Kire, my mother Kaliopa and from many relatives and friends. My cat Max is my biggest inspiration while I write. Without Vodno’s forest and the Ohrid Lake, without the wonders of nature and the mountains in Macedonia, without the trips and the stories all around me, without my parents, grandmothers and grandfathers who made sure I grow up surrounded by books, reading and to relying on critical thinking – none of this would not have been possible – Biljana shared her emotions with us.
The biggest success for her is the prize at the Tallinn festival, for the series “When You Fall”.
The next thing she aspires towards is seeing her own series on “Netflix”.
– My desire is to write a scenario for a feature film and to see that movie in the cinemas. I also dream writing a couple of good novels as well. That should be just enough – added the writer and screenwriter Biljana Crvenkovska.
