Zoran 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.
ivkovi has won several literary awards for his fiction, beginning with the Milö Crnjanski award in 1994 for his novel The Fourth Circle. In 2003, 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 Ljubia 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 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.