Kristian Novak is a Croatian writer, linguist and university professor. He was born into a family of Croatian migrant workers in Germany, but spent his childhood and youth in a small village in Međimurje, the most northern part of Croatia.
He moved to Zagreb, to college in 1997.
He was standard member of the Croatian karate national team from 1996 to 2009, winning a range of individual and team awards at national and global championships.
In 2006. he was European Vice-Champion.
His first novel, Obješeni (The Hanged) was published in 2005, but received no significant reception.
Dark Mother Earth (2013), his second novel, won The Tportal prize for Croatian novel of the year and is hailed as one of the best Croatian novels in the last 50 years. The novel was adapted for the stage with great success. A film adaptation is in progress as well (with award-winning Slovenian director Rok Biček), with Novak as co-screenwriter. His third novel, Gypsy, yet so Beautiful (2016) gained him a second Tportal award, as well as two further prestigious national awards, Gjalski and Fran Galović. It was succesfully adapted for the stage as well (Croatian National Theater, Zagreb), and a television series based on the novel is in preparation.
He is married, father of two. He lives in Zagreb.