Danilo Kiš was a Yugoslav and Serbian novelist, short story writer, essayist and translator. His best known works include Hourglass, A Tomb for Boris Davidovich and The Encyclopedia of the Dead.

The Encyclopedia of the Dead is a collection of nine stories by Yugoslav author Danilo Kiš. Combining history and fiction in what critics have seen as a postmodern fashion, the stories have helped cement Kiš's legacy as one of the most important 20th-century Yugoslav authors.