Zoran Ž ivkovi was born in Belgrade, Serbia, on October 5, 1948. Until his recent retirement, he was a full professor at the Faculty of Philology, the University of Belgrade, teaching creative writing. He is one of the most translated contemporary Serbian writers: by the end of 2017 there were 93 foreign editions of his books of fiction, published in 23 countries, in 20 languages.
Ž ivkovi has won several literary awards for his fiction, beginning with the Miloš Crnjanski award in 1994 for his novel The Fourth Circle. In 2003, Ž ivkovi 's mosaic novel The Library won a World Fantasy Award for Best Novella; in 2007 his novel The Bridge won the Isidora Sekuli award; and in 2007 he received the Stefan Mitrov Ljubiš a award for lifetime achievement in literature. In 2014 and 2015 he received three awards for his contribution to the literature of fantastika: Art-Anima, Stanislav Lem and The Golden Dragon.
Zoran Ž ivkovi has been recognized with his selection as European Grand Master for 2017 by the European Science Fiction Society at the 39th Eurocon in Dortmund, Germany.