Aleš Šteger is a Slovenian poet, novelist, translator and editor, born in Ptuj in 1973. His writing moves between close attention to ordinary objects and questions of memory, conflict and the ways language shapes experience. In The Book of Things, everyday objects become the starting points for poems that unsettle familiar perspectives; The Book of Bodies turns towards the human body and its metaphorical possibilities. His prose extends these concerns into other forms, including the dystopian novel Neverend and stories that revisit classical myths. Translation is another strand of his practice, with authors including Pablo Neruda and Ingeborg Bachmann among those he has brought into Slovenian.
Šteger also works across artistic disciplines, connecting literature with visual art, architecture and music. His involvement in the European poetry network Versopolis reflects a sustained interest in bringing writing into contact with different languages and audiences. His recent novel Ogenj draws on archival documents and testimony concerning Štefka Cobelj, a partisan who later worked as a Yugoslav representative abroad and as a museum professional. Through shifts in narrative perspective, the book considers how a writer can approach a life known through historical traces. On 23 April 2026, Ogenj was named among the ten novels longlisted for the Kresnik Prize, providing a recent reference point for his continuing literary practice.