About the Author

Željko Garmaz (born in Trebinje on 10 August 1967) is a Croatian journalist, travel writer, humanitarian and author whose work connects worlds, from African missions to the vineyards of Croatia. He grew up in Ploče, studied journalism in Sarajevo, and now lives and works in Osijek. His career has been shaped by a commitment to reportage, human stories and fieldwork that reaches across borders and subjects.

As a reporter and the creator of the documentary films Sierra Leone – Land of Blood Diamonds and Our Man in Africa, Garmaz has witnessed lives far removed from comfort, giving a voice to people whose stories are rarely heard. Those experiences also inspired his books Our Man in Africa, co-authored with his wife, Maja Sajler Garmaz, and Africa Is Not All Darkness, as well as the biography Friar Vjeko Ćurić – A Saint of Our Time, dedicated to a missionary who gave his life for others.

In recent years, Garmaz has also become one of the region’s most recognisable chroniclers of wine and winemakers. He is the author of the Wine Stories series, whose published volumes explore Dalmatia, Slavonia and the Croatian Danube Region, Istria and Kvarner, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Jezero, and Hrvatsko Zagorje. Alongside the monographs Enjingi – The Extraordinary Life Story of Croatia’s Greatest Winemaker and The Memory of a Place – Luka’s Korčula, and the books Kulen – Croatia’s Finest Cured Meat and Goodbye to Rough Spirits – A New Beginning for Slavonian Rakija, Garmaz is building a distinctive mosaic of human stories about work, gratitude and a connection to the land.

In everything he writes, he remains true to himself: a journalist who follows his heart on his travels and believes that a good story can change the world.