SIMONA SEMENIČ (1975) is an author and theatre maker. She graduated in Dramaturgy from the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film, and Television (AGRFT) in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Simona is a recipient of the Prešeren Fund Award, the highest national award for artistic creation, the Marko Slodnjak Award, the Modra Ptica Award, and the Zlata Hruška Award for the novel Secret Society KRVZ, as well as the Cankar Award for the book of plays Three Plays for Girls, and three national Best Play awards, Grum Awards, for 5boys.si, 24hrs, and Seven Cooks, Four Soldiers, and Three Sophias. Plays 1981, This Apple, Made of Gold, You are the Miracle, and Beautiful Vidas Burn Beautifully were also nominated for the same award. This Apple, Made of Gold was additionally nominated for the Cankar award, and the novel Secret Society KRVZ was nominated for the Večernica Award, the Levstik Award, and the Desetnica Award. Her most recent novel Gadsbudlikins! was also nominated for Modra Ptica. Her works have been translated into 25 languages and staged and published in numerous European countries, in the USA, South America, West Asia, and East Asia. Among her other full-length plays are You Didn’t Forget You Just Don’t Remember Anymore, The Feast, Blame It All on Boško Buha, Sophia, We, the European Corpses, The Last Love Letter, Rowan, Strudel, Dance, and More, That's Not It, and A Show by the Ladies' Society for Lovers of Gypsy tarot, Books, Theatre, etc. Productions of her plays have won numerous awards in Slovenia and abroad. In collaboration with composer Nina Šenk, she adapted the play You are the Miracle into a libretto for the award-winning chamber opera Canvas.
Simona also writes, directs, and performs experimental theatre shows such as 9 Easy Pieces (2007, with artistic group Preglej), I, the Victim. (2007), Do Me Twice (2009), 43 Happy Ends (2010, with artistic group Preglej), Kapelj and Semenič Under Construction (2012, with Barbara Kapelj), Bulc and Semenič For Sale (2013, with Mare Bulc), The Second Time (2014), To Last (2018), Picture Perfect (2020), and We, the Witches (2021). She directed Andrej Skubic's Hooray Nosferatu (SNG Nova Gorica, 2015) and dance-theatre performance That's Not It (PTL, 2025)
As a co-author and dramaturge, she collaborates with various directors and choreographers, and has been teaching playwriting and theatre at workshops in Slovenia and internationally.
Her books include Gadsbudlikins! (Mladinska knjiga, 2025), La società segreta VLOD (Besa Muci, Italy, 2025), Tú eres un milagro (ADE, Spain, 2025), Tri drami (Anetta Antonenko, Ukrajina, 2025), Try p'yesy dlya divchat (Anetta Antonenko, Ukrajina, 2025), Bellas vidas bellas llamas (Cuadernos del Vigía, Španija, 2025), Mi senti? (Editoria & Spettacolo, 2024), Four dramas (North Macedonian ITI Center, 2022), Three Plays for Girls (Beletrina, 2021), 1981 (JSKD, 2020), Secret Society KRVZ (Mladinska knjiga, 2020), the English edition of Do You Hear Me (City of Women, KUD AAC Zrakogled, 2019),
Do You Hear Me (KUD AAC Zrakogled, 2017), Three Dramas (Beletrina, 2017). Her play 1981 was adapted into a comic book and published by JSKD in 2021.
Since 2018, she has also been present in visual arts; her works Note to an Entirety (2009-2018, with Nada Žgank), His Dreamery (2020, with Nada Žgank), and The Hen (2022, with Arjan Pregl) have been exhibited multiple times.