Looking for books about North Macedonia? You’ve come to the right place. This small Balkan country has been occupied, abandoned and rebranded so many times, but like it’s flag, Macedonians remain sunny and optimistic.
The books below offer a deep dive into Macedonia’s identity, its place in the Balkans, and personal stories shaped by upheaval and memory.
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Nomad Book Club
North Macedonia is the Nomad Book Club pick for August 2025, where we explore a new country or region each month through books set in that place. Sign up to the newsletter to join the club and follow along on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube for updates.
- Madrid Literary Retreat
- 1. I’m Not Going Anywhere by Rumena Bužarovska
- 2. Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light – The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta by Mother Teresa & Brian Kolodiejchuk
- 3. A Spare Life by Lidija Dimkovska
- 4. Freud’s Sister: A Novel by Goce Smilevski
- 5. To the Lake: A Balkan Journey of War and Peace by Kapka Kassabova
- 6. Yugoslavia: Death of a Nation by Laura Silber & Allan Little
- More Books About North Macedonia
- Travel Book Journal
21 – 24 NOVEMBER 2025
Madrid Literary Retreat
From the legacy of Cervantes to the bookshop/cafés of the famed Barrio de las Letras, Madrid is a city steeped in literary history. Plus, churros. Lots of churros.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links and as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This means I earn a small commission if you choose to make a purchase using a link, but at no cost to you. I’ve included Amazon links to each recommended book as well as Everand, Spotify, and Bookshop.org where available.
1. I’m Not Going Anywhere by Rumena Bužarovska
Translated by Steve Bradbury
I’m Not Going Anywhere is a sharp, witty collection of short stories capturing contemporary Macedonian life—its small-town realities, ambitious aspirations, and everyday absurdities.
Bužarovska’s characters navigate relationships, expectations, and family drama, always with direct, often darkly humorous voice. These stories explore how individuals remain tied to place even as they dream of escape.
About the author:
Rumena Bužarovska is one of North Macedonia’s most celebrated writers, born in 1981 in Skopje. She is known for her short story collections—Scribbles, Wisdom Tooth, and My Husband—translated into multiple languages. Her writing often examines gender, power, and the tensions of modern life in the Balkans.
Read Next: Learn more about how to listen to audiobooks and read e-books with Everand in my full Everand review here.
2. Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light – The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta by Mother Teresa & Brian Kolodiejchuk
This extraordinary collection presents Mother Teresa’s private letters and spiritual reflections, revealing doubts, inner struggles, and unwavering faith.
Though not strictly about North Macedonia, the book roots in her beginnings: her Albanian-speaking family in Skopje. The writings provide a profound portrait of a woman’s spiritual journey from her homeland to global service.
About the author and editor:
Mother Teresa (born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu in Skopje in 1910) became a symbol of compassion and charity worldwide. Brian Kolodiejchuk, a Catholic priest and postulator for her sainthood cause, compiled and edited her private writings, offering a poignant and candid spiritual biography.
3. A Spare Life by Lidija Dimkovska
Translated by Christina E. Kramer
A Spare Life is a powerful novel that follows conjoined twins, Zlata and Srebra, born in Skopje in the 1980s. Their lives are bound, literally and emotionally, illustrating a gripping metaphor for identity, dependency, and the nation itself.
The girls navigate poverty, superstition, and family dynamics amid Yugoslavia’s collapse. When they choose a risky separation surgery, their fate becomes symbolic of a society seeking self-definition.
About the author:
Lidija Dimkovska, born in 1971 in Skopje, is a poet, novelist, and translator. Now based in Ljubljana, she’s written fiction and poetry addressing Macedonian identity and diaspora. A Spare Life was longlisted for the Best Translated Book Award in 2017.
4. Freud’s Sister: A Novel by Goce Smilevski
Translated by Christina E. Kramer
In this haunting fictional account, Adolfina Freud, Sigmund’s sister, narrates her life from 1930s Vienna to the horror of Terezín concentration camp. Despite her brother’s rising fame and escape, she remains forgotten.
“There is no justice in this world. … What is lost at a certain moment can never again be compensated…”
Freud’s Sister gives voice to her suffering, intellectual aspirations, and tragic end. It interrogates identity, memory, and whose stories are told—and whose aren’t.
About the author:
Goce Smilevski (born 1975 in Skopje) is an award-winning novelist whose works explore intellectual histories and personal tragedies. Freud’s Sister won the EU Prize for Literature in 2010.
5. To the Lake: A Balkan Journey of War and Peace by Kapka Kassabova
To the Lake is a lyrical travel memoir that traces Kassabova’s journey to Lakes Ohrid and Prespa—borderlands shared by North Macedonia, Albania, and Greece. As she swims and walks these lakes, she uncovers family stories, collective trauma, and political complexity.
“The lake was open, boundless. … Only the humans were self‑imprisoned behind invisible lines.”
The lakes become a meditation on identity, exile, and connection—unravelling how geography shapes history and memory.
About the author:
Kapka Kassabova, born in Bulgaria, has roots in Macedonia through her grandmother. A renowned travel writer and poet, her works—Border (which I included in my book list for Bulgaria) and To the Lake—explore borderlands and identity with poetic insight. To the Lake has received several awards, including France’s Prix du meilleur livre étranger (Best Foreign Book Prize).
6. Yugoslavia: Death of a Nation by Laura Silber & Allan Little
Yugoslavia: Death of a Nation is an authoritative nonfiction book that accompanies the acclaimed BBC documentary, which chronicles the rise and violent dissolution of Yugoslavia.
Covering from Tito’s death to the Balkan wars of the 1990s, the narrative relies on interviews with protagonists—from Milošević to Izetbegović—offering insight into nationalist politics, international failures, and the human cost of fragmentation
About the authors:
Laura Silber and Allan Little are journalists and documentary makers. Silber reported from the Balkans during the 1990s; Little is a BBC foreign correspondent. Together, they combined reportage and archival footage to create this detailed account.
More Books About North Macedonia
North Macedonia may be small, but its literature is expansive—braiding memoir, fiction, poetry, and history to explore exile, identity, memory, and belonging.
When I popped into Book Store Matica in Skopje and asked about books by Macedonian writers available in English, the staff pointed me in the direction of this stack:
The selection consists of mostly books by Australian-Macedonian writer Bozin Pavlovski, but there was also some poetry by Blaže Koneski (which the woman highly recommended). In the end, I settled on an intriguing novel called The Thrombus by Olivera Nikolova.
I also loved that the paper bag my book came in has a poem printed on the side!
These books are just a snapshot, but if you have any more books about Macedonia to recommend, please leave suggestions in the comment section below!
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Travel Book Journal
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Fantastic Books & Where to Find Them
For more of what to read where, check out my full Travel Books Guide, filled with book recommendations for different destinations, the most beautiful bookstores around the world, tips on how to get the best deals on audiobooks and e-books, as well as more literary travel.
Travel Essentials
Here are the websites and services I personally use and recommend.
FLIGHTS: The best deals can be found on Skyscanner, Google Flights and Kiwi (learn more about Kiwi travel hacking here).
TRAVEL INSURANCE: I recommend World Nomads for travel insurance because you can purchase once you’re already overseas and you can easily extend your policy. For digital nomads, I recommend and personally use Genki (learn more about Genki digital nomad health insurance here).
E-SIM: For travel in Europe, I use an e-sim with GoMobile, which is a provider based in Malta, but you need to be there to set it up.
ACCOMMODATION: I use Booking.com for hotels and Airbnb for apartments. For Colivings, I usually book privately, but Coliving.com is a good place to start.
THINGS TO DO: I use Viator or Get Your Guide for booking day trips, city tours and other activities, though I often check reviews on TripAdvisor too.
