Ilija Trojanow fled from Yugoslavia with his family in 1971 through Italy to Germany, where they were granted political asylum. In 1972, the family moved to Kenya. From 1985-89, Trojanow studied law and cultural anthropology at the University of Munich. In Munich, he founded the Cyril & Method publishers and in 1989, Marino publishers, both of which specialized in African literature. In 1999, Trojanow moved to Mumbai, which became the focus of his interest for the following years.

Ilija Trojanow has been a member of the PEN Center Germany since 2002. From 2003-2007, he lived in Cape Town. Trojanow has been writing occasional articles for the weekly column Schlagloch for the taz since 2006. In 2007, he was the city of Mainz author-in-residence. In November of the same year Trojanow was a lecturer in poetics at the Universität Tubingen. He curated the literary festival RE ASIA - Avatar. Asiens Erzähler in Berlin's House of World Cultures in 2008. Since 2008, Ilija Trojanow has been editor of the book series Weltlese. Lesereisen ins Unbekannte, which publishes undiscovered authors and unusual or forgotten texts. He currently lives in Vienna.