Lora Tomaš is a Croatian writer, translator and literary journalist whose fiction explores memory, displacement, gender and the unstable borders between intimacy and travel. Born in Zagreb in 1981, she studied Indology and English Language and Literature at the University of Zagreb before completing a master’s degree in Gender Studies at Central European University in Budapest. Years spent in South Asia informed both her reportage and her work as a co-editor and co-translator of two Croatian anthologies of contemporary Indian prose and poetry.
Her first novel, Slani mrak (Salt Dark, 2020), grew from a manuscript shortlisted for the V.B.Z. Literary Prize and later received the Slavić Prize for best debut. Her second novel, Papir tvoje kože (Paper of Your Skin, 2024), won Croatia’s Fric Award. Written largely through letters, it follows a woman in India and examines memory, grief, toxic relationships, women’s mobility and the ethics of telling another person’s story.
In 2026, Paper of Your Skin represented Croatia on the European Union Prize for Literature shortlist, placing Tomaš among fourteen emerging fiction writers selected from across Europe. The programme continued to present her internationally through its 2026 anthology and a public bookshop event on 24 September, extending the novel’s circulation beyond the Croatian-language field.