Ljubljana - The women's section of Slovenian PEN has conferred this year's Mira Prize for outstanding women authors on younger-generation writer Luna Jurančič Šribar, who, the jury says, focuses on women characters, rebellious and strong heroines who have their destiny in their hands despite hardships and life on the margin of society.

Jurančič Šribar, 1981, has earned a PhD in anthropology of everyday life with the focus on comparing the gift economy and community economics.

She has spent most of her working career in the non-governmental sector helping the homeless, which has influenced her work, according to the jury, chaired by Petra Koršič.

The tenth Mira recipient started her writing career with short stories, which were published in several literary journals and on online literary media.

Her debut novel Starinarnica (Antique Shop) followed in 2018, bringing harsh criticism of the destructive system while also offering a vision of more humane relations.

Her first collection of short stories - Konstrukt, d. b. o. (Construct) - was published in 2020, giving a voice to those who are often ignored as they do not fit the idea of a social normal.

The author will have her first youth novel Grizolda in Maček (Grizolda and Cat) published by Mladinska Knjiga next year after it was nominated for the publisher's Blue Bird award in 2020.

Jurančič Šribar was one of the 12 nominees for the Mira Prize, which was given out at an event at the Cankarjev Dom arts centre this evening. Last year, the prize went to poet Barbara Korun.