Kristina Gavran creates across different disciplines on projects that focus on migration, untold stories, motherhood and community engagement. Kristina is a writer, theatre-maker, researcher and storyteller and she works internationally. 

She did her BA and MA studies in playwriting and dramaturgy at the Academy of Dramatic Arts, University of Zagreb. She gained a doctorate at Loughborough University in 2022, researching True-Life Storytelling performance. 

Kristina writes both for children and adults, creating short stories, plays, and novels. She also leads drama and storytelling workshops and works with theatres in Croatia and England. She received funding from Arts Council England for a Develop Your Creative Practice one-year project, New Place/New Language.  

Disput published Kristina’s collection of short stories Rain in India, Summer in Berlin and her novel The Palisander Guitar, which was in the finals of the European Literature Award and the T-portal Award. The novel received the prestigious Mirko Kovac award for the best new author, and it has been translated and published in Bulgaria, Macedonia and France. Her second novel In Between, about migration, was published in Croatia by Disput, and is translated into English. The short story ‘Signature‘ received first place in the Ranko Marinkovic award, chosen by the Croatian newspaper Vecernji list. 

Kristina’s play Pepper and Honey was produced by Notnow Collective and toured around the UK. Her plays for children A Boy who Sought a Kite, Corruptivitis in Mousetown and Sonata for the Rubbish Bin received the Mali Marulic award, while her play for adults Ready was awarded Marin Drzic for the best play by the Croatian Ministry of Culture and it was produced in Theatre ZKM and the Croatian National Theatre in Mostar. 

Kristina got the CIRCE fellowship for her project Birth Stories, exploring storytelling around childbirth experiences and connection between art and wellbeing.