Rojen 25. decembra 1961. Bil je večkratni slovenski prvak in enkrat jugoslovanski vice-prvak v judu, diplomiral pa je iz filozofije in primerjalne književnosti na Filozofski fakulteti v Ljubljani ter doktoriral iz družbene misli na Maxwell School of Citizenship, Syracuse University, New York. Bil je Senior Fulbright Fellow na kalifornijski univerzi v Berkeleyu, delal pa je tudi v okviru Institute of Advanced Study-Collegium Budapest, ter Civitella Ranieri Center in Liguria Study Center for the Arts and Humanitites v Italiji. Objavil je devet knjig pesmi, trinajst knjig esejev, prevedel izbrane pesmi Johna Ashberyja in knjigo o sociologiji vednosti ter uredil več antologij. Za svoje delo je dobil nekaj mednarodnih, jugoslovanskih in slovenskih nagrad, vključno z nagrado Prešernovega sklada in priznanje Ambasador znanosti Republike Slovenije. Je sourednik mednarodnih kulturnih revij Sarajevski zvezki in Verse ter pridruženi urednik pri revijah Cultural Sociology in www.fastcapitalism.com. Leta 2005/6 je bil Roberta Buffett Professor za mednarodne študije na Northwestern University v Chicagu. Je redni profesor za kulturne študije na Fakulteti za družbene vede, Univerze v Ljubljani in redni gostujoči profesor za balkanske študije na podiplomski šoli College d’Europe, Natolin-Varšava. Je član European Council on Foreign Relations. Z ženo, pisateljico in prevajalko Erico Johnson Debeljak, ter s tremi otroci živi v soseski Zelena jama v Ljubljani.

Poezija:

• 1982 Zamenjave, zamenjave, PAM, Mladinska knjiga
• 1985 Imena smrti, Mladinska knjiga
• 1987 Slovar tišine, Aleph Press
• 1990 Minute strahu, Mladinska knjiga
• 1996 Mesto in otrok, Mladinska knjiga
• 2000 Nedokončane hvalnice, Mladinska knjiga
• 2004 Pod gladino, Mladinska knjiga
• 2009 Tihotapci, Mladinska knjiga

Strokovne monografije:

• 1988 Melanholične figure: eseji o književnosti in idejah, KRT, Ljubljana
• 1989 Postmoderna sfinga, Wieser, Ljubljana
• 1991 Temno nebo Amerike, Obzorja, Maribor (ponatis Wieser Verlag, Ljubljana-Klagenfurt 1994)
• 1992 Pisma iz tujine, Mihelač, Ljubljana
• 1994 Zaton idolov, Wieser, Ljubljana-Klagenfurt
• 1995 Oblike religiozne imaginacije, ZPS, Ljubljana
• 1998 Individualizem in literarne metafore naroda, Obzorja, Maribor
• 1998 Atlantski most: Eseji o ameriški književnosti, Aleph, Ljubljana
• 1999 Na ruševinah modernosti: Institucija umetnosti in njene zgodovinske oblike, ZPS, Ljubljana
• 2002 Lanski sneg: eseji o kulturi in tranziciji, Aristej, Maribor
• 2004 Evropa brez Evropejcev, Založba Sophia, Ljubljana
• 2005 Na dnu predala: Drobni spisi, V.B.Z., Ljubljana
• 2010 Balkanska brv: eseji o književnosti "jugoslovanske Atlantide", Študentska založba, Ljubljana

 Prevodi:

Poezija

• 1989 Rječnik tišine (Dictionary of Silence), Translated by Branko Čegec, Quorum Press, Zagreb, Croatia (reprint Quorum, Zagreb. 2002)
• 1989 The Chronicle of Melancholy, Translated by Michael Biggins, Poetry Miscellany, Chattanooga, TN, USA
• 1992 Slownik Ciszy (selected poems), Translated by Katarina Šalamun-Biedrzycka, Wizdavatelstvo Cassiopeia, Krakow, Poland
• 1993 Momenti d'Angoscia, (Anxious Moments) Translated by Tea Stoka, Flavio Pagano Editore, Napoli, Italy
• 1994 Anxious Moments, Translated by Christopher Merrill and the author, White Pine Press, Fredonia, NY, USA
• 1996 A csend szotara (selected poems), Translated by Orsollya Gallos & Gabor Csordas, Jelenkor Kiado; Pecs-Budapest, Hungary
• 1996 Katalog prachu (selected poems), Translated by František Benhart, Votobia, Olomouc, Czech Republic
• 1997 Shisyuu fuan na jikoku (Anxious Moments), Translated by Takeshi Ishihara, Kashinsya, Tokyo, Japan
• 1998 Grad i djete (The City and the Child), Translated by Branko Čegec, Meandar: Zagreb, Croatia
• 1999 Mesto a dite (The City and the Child), Translated by Frantisek Benhart, Mlada Fronta Press, Prague, Czech Republic
• 1999 The Dictionary of Silence, Translated by Sonja Kravanja, Lumen Press, Santa Fe, NM
• 1999 The City and the Child, Translated by Christopher Merrill and the author, White Pine Press, Buffalo, New York, USA
• 2000 Miasto i dziecko (The City and the Child), Translated by Katarina Šalamun-Biedrzycka, Wydawnictwo Zielona Sowa, Krakow, Poland
• 2001 Minutes de la peur (Anxious Moments), Translated by Andreé Lück-Gaye, Domens, Pézenas, France
• 2001 Skice za povratak: izabrane pesme (Sketches for a Return: Selected Poems). Edited and co-translated by Bojana Stojanović-Pantović, Zadužbina Petar Kočić, Banja Luka-Beograd
• 2001 Netobula žoždio aistra (Imperfect Passion of the Word: Selected Poems), Translated by Eugenius Ališanka, Lietuvos Raštoju Sajungos Leidykla, Vilnius, Lithuania
• 2002 Kaupunki ja lapsi (The City and the Child), Translated by Kari Klemela, Nihil Interit, Helsinki, Finland
• 2004 Izabrani Pesni (Selected Poems), Translated by Lidija Dimkovska et al; Blesok, Skopje, Macedonia
• 2006 Ispod povrsine (Under the Waterline), Edo Fičor, tr., HDP, Zagreb, Croatia
• 2006 La ciutat i el nen, (The City and the Child), Xavier Ferre, tr., Edicions La Guineu, Barcelona, Catalonia-Spain
• 2008 Sliver of Salt, Filter Press, Brooklyn, NY (bi-lingual chapbook with selections translated by Andrew Zawacki; salt-soaked covers, illustrations, binding, and book art by Sarah Parkel; limited edition of fifty).
• 2008 Pod površinata (Under the Waterline), Igor Isakovski, tr., Blesok, Skopje, Macedonia
• 2010 Kozmopolis/Cosmopolis/Kozmopolis, Igor Isakovski, tr. in Macedonian; Christopher Merrill, Andrew Zawacki and the author, tr. in English. EvaTas Series, Blesok, Skopje, Macedonia
• 2010 Las odas inacabadas, (Barbara Pregelj, trans.), Gog&Magog, Buenos Aires
• 2011 Without Anesthesia: New and Selected Poems, Andrew Zawacki, ed., Persea Books, New York, NY

 Strokovne monografije

• 1994 Untergang der Idole (Twilight of the Idols), Translated by Franci Zwiter, jr., Wieser, Klagenfurt, Austria
• 1994 Twilight of the Idols: Recollections of a Lost Yugoslavia, Translated by Michael Biggins, White Pine Press, Fredonia, NY
• 1995 Sumrak idola (Twilight of the Idols), Translated by Branko Čegec, Meandar Press, Zagreb, Croatia (reprint, 2002)
• 1996 Soumrak idolu (Twilight of the Idols), Translated by František Benhart, Votobia Press, Olomouc, Czech Republic
• 1998 Otthon Es Kulfold (Selected Cultural Essays), Translated by Barbaszy Eszter et al., Jelenkor Kiado & JAK, Pecs, Hungary
• 1998 Reluctant Modernity: The Institution of Art and its Historical Forms, Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham & New York & London
• 1998 Kozmopoliticka metafora: Individualismus a narodna tradicia, (Individualism and Literary Metaphors of the Nation), Translated by Karol Chmel, Kalligram, Bratislava
• 1999 Sveraci kazajka anonymity (Individualism and Literary Metaphors of the Nation), Translated by František Benhart and Jana Špirudova), Volvox Globator, Prague
• 1999 Temne nebo Ameriky (The Dark Skies of America), Translated by Karol Chmel, F.R&G-Fragment Press, Bratislava, Slovakia
• 1999 El crepusculo de los idolos: Muerte del siglo veinte en los Balcanes, Translated by Barbara Pregelj & Antonio Preciado, Tercera Prensa-Hirugarren Prentsa, Donostia, Spain
• 2000 Temne nebe Ameriky (The Dark Skies of America), Translated by Martina & Pavel Šaradin, Host, Brno, Czech Republic
• 2003 În căutarea nefericirii (The Pursuit of Unhappiness: Selected Essays), translated by Ioana Alupoaie, Polirom, Idee Contemporane Serioes, Iaşi-Bucharest, Romania
• 2003 Suvremeni fundamentalizam i sveti rat (Contemporary Fundamentalism and Holly War), translated by Jagna Pogačnik and Boris Beck, Jesenski-Truk, Zagreb, Croatia
• 2004 Izabrani Esei (Selected Cultural Essays), translated by Igor Isakovski, Yelizabeta Bakovska, Ana Dimiskovska Trajanovska, Blesok, Skopje, Macedonia
• 2004 Auf der Suche nach dem verlorenen Paradies (In Search of a Lost Paradise), Wieser Verlag, Klagenfurt-Wien, Austria
• 2004 The Hidden Handshake: National Identity and Europe in Postcommunist World, Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham-New York-London
• 2006 Európa európaiak nélkül. (Europe without Europeans),Translated by Orsollya Gallos, Napkút Kidaó. Budapest, Hungary
• 2006 Razgovori i vizije: izabrani eseji (Conversations and Visions: Selected Essays), Translated by Josip Osti et al., Otvoreni Kulturni Forum, Cetinje, Montenegro
• 2007 La Neu de L’Any Passat: Assaigs Escollits Sobre Els Balcans 1994-2004 (Last Year’Snow: Selected Essays on the Balkans 1994-2004). Translated by Simona Skrabec, Lleonard Muntaner. Palma-Barcelona, Spain
• 2009 Evropa bez evropljana (Europe without Europeans), Jagna Pogačnik, tr., Profil International, Zagreb, Croatia
• 2010 Baltische Adria (with Eugenius Ališanka), RanitzDialog 3, Ludwig Hartinger, tr., Edition Tanhauser, Ottenshaim/Donau, Austria

Drugo:

Posamezne pesmi v mednarodnih antologijah

• 2010 Dva: Diolaim de Nua-Litrocht na Sloiveine, Eag. Eoghan MacAogain, Gabriel Rosenstock (eds.), Coisceim, Dublin
• 2008 New European Poets. Wayne Miller and Kevin Prufer, eds., Graywolf Press, Minneapolis/St.Paul, Minnesota
• 2008 ИЗ beka b bek: Cлoвенская поэзия (From Age to Age: Slovenian Poetry), S. N. Glovkov (ed.), Pranat, Moskva
• 2008 Grad i riječ: Sarajevo u poeziji /The city and the Word: Sarajevo in Poetry. Slavko Šantić ed., Šahinpašič Press, Sarajevo
• 2006 Poesía Eslovena Contemporánea: Antología. Gog y Magog, Buenos Aires
• 2006 U jantaru vremena: antologija slovenske poezije (In the Amber of Time: Anthology of Slovenian poetry). Josip Osti (ed.) Turga, Sarajevo
• 2005 Neue Blätter aus der Slowenische Lyrik, Wieser Verlag, Klagenfurt - Wien
• 2003 Collection of Linked Quatrains, Kijima Haijime, Ishihara Takeshi, Niinobeken (eds.), Doyo Bijutshusha Shuppan Hanbai, Tokyo
• 2002 Moderna slovenska lirika (Modern Slovenian Poetry), Radoslav Dabo&Janko Kos, (eds.), Konzor, Zagreb
• 2001 Terra, mar e lume (Ursula Heinze de Lorenzo, ed.), Xunta de Galicia, Pontevedra (Galicia, Spain)
• 2000 Ecritures Slovenes, (Yvan Mecif, ed.), Remanences, No. 10-11, Bedarieux, Languedoc-Roussillon (France)
• 2000 The Best of the Prose Poem (Peter Johnson, ed.), White Pine Press, Buffalo, NY & Providence College, Providence, RI
• 2000 Afterwards: Slovenian Writing 1945-1995 (Andrew Zawacki, ed.), White Pine Press, Buffalo, New York
• 1999 Ohne grenzen/ Senza confini/Brez meja, (Lojze Wieser, ed.) Wieser Verlag, Klagenfurt
• 1999 Poezijo pavasaris (Spring of Poetry), (Eugenius Ališanka, ed.), Vaga, Vilnius
• 1998 Misto v prostoru: antologie nove slovinske poezije (A place in a Space: Anthology of New Slovenian Poetry) (František Benhart, ed.), Host-Weles, Prague, Czech Republic
• 1998 Im Schatten der Worte (Ludwig Hartinger., ed.), Edition Tanhäuser, Ottensheim/ Donau
• 1998 Nuova poesia Slovena (Michele Obit, ed.), ZTT, Trieste, Italy
• 1995 The Best of Verse (Andrew Zawacki. & Brian Henry, eds.) Verse Press, Williamsburg, VA
• 1995 Sedam slovenskih pjesnika (Josip Osti, ed.), Egzil-abc, Ljubljana-Sarajevo
• 1995 Lyrik, (Wallman, Herman & Schulte. Susanne, eds.), Lyriktreffen Munster, Munster
• 1995 Srebro i mech, (Katarina Šalamun-Biedrzycka, ed.), Fundacja Pogranicze, Sejny
• 1995 Das Buch der Rander-Lyrik, (Karl-Markus Gauss & Ludwig Hartinger, eds.), Wieser, Salzburg-Klagenfurt
• 1994 Poesie Contemporaine Slovene, Editions Autres Temps, Marseille, France
• 1994 Sedm slovinskych basniku (Seven Slovenian Poets), (Frantisek Benhart, ed.) Trost Press, Prague
• 1993 Double Vision: Four Slovenian Poets (ed. Richard Jackson), Aleph Press & The Poetry Miscellany Books, Chattanooga, TN
• 1993 Shifting Borders: East European Poetry in the Eighties, (Walter Cummings, ed.), Farleigh Dickinson University Press
• 1992 This Same Sky: Poems from Around the World, (Naomi Shihab Nye, ed.), McMillan Publishing Company: New York
• 1992 Writers in Exile, North Atlantic Review, no. 4, Martin Tucker (ed.), Stony Brook, NY
• 1992 Les Soleils d’Illyrie: Poesie Serbe, Croate, Bosniaque Slovene, Macedonienne d’aujourd’hui (Vladimir Claude Fischera, ed.), BF Editions, Strasbourg, France
• 1991 Slovenska poezija (ed. Ciril Zlobec), GZH Press, Zagreb, Croatia
• 1990 Child of Europe: A New Anthology of East European Poetry (Michael March, ed.), Penguin: New York & Harmondsworth
• 1990 Strast i Mir (Passion and Peace): (Jani Virk & Josip Radlovic, ed.), Književna zajednica: Novi Sad, Serbia, Yugoslavia
• 1988 Il Grande Blu il Grande Nero: sedici qiovani poeti del Mediteraneo (Silvano Ceccarim, Nicola Muschiatello, Roberto Rovensi, eds.), Transeuropa, Bologna, Italy

Posamezni eseji v mednarodnih antologijah

• 2011 “Danilo Kiš - moj balkanski učitelj”, Danilo Kiš (1935-2005): Između poetike i politike, Mirjana Miočinović (ur.), Centar za kulturnu dekontaminaciju, Beograd
• 2010 Where does the West begin?, Whatever Happened to Democracy?: Eastern and Central Europe Twenty Years After: 2009, Marta Šimečkova (ed.), Projekt Forum, Bratislava
• 2010 “In search of ‘more than one’: a personal vision of cosmopolitanism”, Grenzverkerhr/Ungen; Multingualism, Transculturality and Education, Wintersteiner/Gombos/Gronold, (eds.), Wieser Verlag, Klagenfurt
• 2009 “Zahod, modernost in medkulturni dialog”, Medkulturni dialog kot temeljna vrednota EU, Vesna Mikolič, Jacek Kozak (eds.), Univerza na Primorskem-Založba Annales, Koper
• 2009 “In defense of cross-fertilisation: Europe and its identity contradictions”, Leading in Crisis: Challenges and Opportunities for Europe, Danica Purg (ur.), IEDC-Bled School of Management, Bled
• 2008 “Tvrđava Evropa”, Esej danas, Boris Domagoj Biletić (ed.), Nova Istra, Pula
• 2008 “European Forms of Belonging”, The Best of Sarajevo Notebooks, Vojka Smiljanić Džikić, (ed.), MediaCentar, Sarajevo
• 2006 “Slovenian Writers and the History of Emancipation”, Six Slovenian Poets, Brane Mozetič (ed.), Arc Publications,Todmorden/Lancs, UK
• 2006 “Tko ne zna što je izgubio, nije izgubio ništa”. Branimir Štulić: prilozi za biografiju Johnnyja B. Štulića. Kruno Petrinović, ur., Umjetnička organizacija Uradi nešto, Zagreb
• 2006 “The Perils of Nationalism, the Hopes of Cosmopolitanism”, Mit vereinten Kraften?: Der Machtansprung der Literatur. Jiri Grusa & Wolfgang Lederhaas, (eds.), Favorita Papers 01, Diplomatische Academie Verlag, Vienna
• 2006 “Evropa senza europei / Evropa brez Evropejcev” Fare gli europei - Ustvariti Evropejce. Miran Košuta (ed.). Istituto/Inštitut Antonio Gramsci, Trieste
• 2005 “Ist Terror der letzte Ausweg für die Vertrieben und Untredrücken?”. Der Vielfalt verpflichtet; Europa im Gespräch, Lojze Wieser in Bernhard Rinner (eds.), Wieser Verlag, Klagenfurt
• 2004 “Cerchi concentrici d’identita”. TransEuropaExpress: Scrittori della nuova Europa, ur. Fortunato, Mario & Maria Ida Gaeta (eds.); Biblioteca Universale Rizzoli, Rome
• 2004 “Dreaming of Friends, Living with Foes”. in: Snel, Guido (ed.), Alter Ego: Twenty Confronting Views on the European Experience, Salomé-Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam
• 2004 “Concentric Circles of Identity”. Keller, Ursula, Rakusa, Ilma (eds.) Writing Europe: What is European about the Literatures of Europe?, Central European University Press, Budapest-New York
• 2004 “My Hometown In Transition”. In Our Own Words, Marlow Peerse Weaver (ed.), MW Enterprises, Cary, New Carolina
• 2003 “Konzentrische Kreise der Identität”. Europa Schreibt – Was ist das Europaische an den Literaturen Europas? (Ursulla Keller & Ilma Rakusa, eds.), Körber Stiftung, Hamburg
• 2003 “The Future Relations Among Regional, National and European Identities”, Europe's Torn Identity, AEGEE, Ljubljana
• 2003 “Auf der suche nach einem Archetyp: Meine Heimatstadt im Übergang”. Dževad Karahasan & Markus Jaroschka (eds.), Poetik der Grenze: Über die Grenzen sprechen – Literarische Brücken für Europa, Steierische Verlagsgesellschaft, Graz
• 2002 “Laudatio”, in: Worte. Ränder. Übergänge. Zu Gustav Januš Fabjan Hafner (ed). Ritter Literatur. Klagenfurt - Wien
• 2000 “The Lonesome Heart and the Failed Community”, The Slovenian Essay of the Nineties, Matevž Kos (ed.), Litterae Slovenicae-Slovenian Writers Association, Ljubljana
• 1999 “Slovenia: A Brief Literary History”, Andrew Zawacki (ed.): Afterwards: Slovenian Writing 1945-1995, White Pine Press, Buffalo, New York
• 1997 “Vargjet qe lexohen ne kembe, siper germadhave te evropes”, Krimi dhe indiferenca, Blerim Shala, ed., Zeri, Pristina, Kosovo

 Nagrade:

• 1991 Writing Fellowship, Virginia Center for Creative Arts, Sweet Briar, ZDA
• 1993 British Council Writing Fellow, Cambridge University, Velika Britanija
• 1996 Junior Fellow, Collegium Budapest-Institute of Advanced Study, Budimpešta
• 1996 Miriam Lindberg Israel Poetry for Peace Prize, Tel Aviv, Izrael
• 1997 Senior Fulbright Fellow, University of California-Berkeley, ZDA
• 2000 Chiqyu Poetry Prize, Tokio, Japonska
• 2001 Ambasador znanosti Republike Slovenije, Ljubljana, Slovenija
• 2002 Civitella Ranieri Writing Fellowship, Umbertide, Italija
• 2004 Bogliasco Writing Fellow, Liguria Study Center for the Arts and Humanitites, Italija
• 2009 Jenkova nagrada, DSP, Ljubljana, Slovenija