Shtriga is a small publishing house from Croatia. Our aim is to provide speculative fiction books for the wide market, primarily by Croatian authors, sharing our stories with the rest of the world.
All of our books are produced with love and by a small team of local professionals. We believe in diverse stories and high quality speculative fiction for all.
Recipient of the ESFS award for the Best Publisher of speculative fiction in Europe, in 2021.
Winner of the BOLD category of the Queer Beez Awards in 2024.
Why Shtriga, you ask?
The name itself hides several layers. One of them uncovers a very creepy and very dangerous animal that crawls through the undergrowth. The other, a more famous one, tells the tale of a very creepy and very dangerous creature from Slavic mythology. We adore one and frantically run away from the other.
Featuring
Local folklore from the Balkans through the eyes of modern writers with a horror twist
Diverse stories and protagonists in a wide array of speculative fiction sub-genres
Immersive serial novels ranging from Slavic urban fantasy to dieselpunk mystery romance
Editors
Vesna Kurilić
Vesna Kurilić is a multiple SFERA & Artefakt award-winning author of speculative fiction. She’s worked as an editor and proofreader on hundreds of short stories, published in numerous publications such as anthologies, magazines, as well as multiple novellas and novels. Her main literary focus is reclaiming local history on behalf of non-binary, queer folks like herself, and making it accessible and relatable to readers. A native and resident of Rijeka, Croatia, she’s the author of the queer retrofuturistic mystery series Ranger Paraversum.
Antonija Mežnarić
Antonija Mežnarić is a Croatian writer and editor. She writes queer horror and fantasy, mostly inspired by South Slavic folklore and mythology, which is evident in her awarded found footage folk horror novela published in The Lost Treasure Hunters and Other Tales of Folk Terrors, collection of folk horror stories Mistress of Geese, two published horror novellas, and the dark Slavic fantasy novel From the Cradle to the Grave (also available in Croatian).
She’s the lead editor at Morina kutija, an online magazine for speculative fiction. Alongside Vesna and their author colleague and editor Igor Rendić, she hosts Mora FM, the award winning podcast in Croatian for writing, publishing, and speculative fiction. Besides that, you can find her holding lectures, quizzes and panel discussions on various topics at conventions, usually in cosplay.
Cover artists
Korin(a) Hunjak
Korin(a) Hunjak is a visual artist focused on illustration, comics, and design. Their short comics have been collected in ‘18-’22 Brodski dnevnik Korine Hunjak (2023.) and in various foreign publications. They are an editor of the award-winning art and culture magazine Strip-PREFIKS. As part of the Hrvatski autorski strip NGO they’ve organized various events aimed at raising consciousness about comics culture in Croatia and abroad. Their work is focused on humanizing narratives, playing with different art styles, and graphics.
Their cover for A River in the Dark won Kobo’s Best Indie Cover in scifi/fantasy in 2024.
Antonio Filipović
Antonio Filipović is an illustrator and comic book artist from Rijeka. He graduated in Visual communications and graphic design from the Academy of Applied Arts. He is the author of several short comics published in Croatian and foreign magazines, including Strip-PREFIKS, OHOHO ZIN and Stripburger. He also works in illustration and has created covers for several speculative fiction titles. In his work he often uses mythology and fantasy to touch on modern social themes with a focus on characters’ personalities.
His cover art for anthology Slavic Supernatural in 2024 was awarded the ESFS Achievement Award in Best Work of Art.
Shtriga logo by: Korin(a) Hunjak
Shtriga Books 