A graduate of Film and Drama Studies at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, Balko won the main prize in the Poviedka 2012 (Short Story 2012) competition. He is co-author and assistant director of the film Kandidát (2013). Together with Lucia Potůčková and Maroš Hečko, he published a collection of poems called Metrofóbia in 2012. His debut novel Vtedy v Lošonci. Via Lošonc (Once in Lošonc, 2014) is set in his birthplace, Lučenec, where he organizes the Medzihmla literary festival. He won the Ján Johanides Award for authors under 35, the Tatra Banka Foundation Award 2015 in the Young Creator category and the Anasoft Litera Readers' Prize 2015. The book was also published in Czech, Polish and German. His latest novel, ØSTROV, is about the power of imagination, writing and a quest to find his lost father. Both of Peter Balko's books have been nominated among the 10 best books in Slovakia for the Anasoft Litera Award. He lives in Bratislava with his wife Vera and fat black cat Luna.
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