Dane Zajc

(1929-2005) A poet, essayist, and playwright who, until his retirement, worked as a librarian in Ljubljana. Considered the doyen of postwar poets, he was active in the foundation of numerous literary magazines, including Review 57 (Revija 57), Problems (Problemi) and Perspectives (Perspektive), which he also edited. His lyrical poems displayed dark and depressing atmospheres, and were suffused with stark existentialist images which helped undermine the then-obligatory aesthetics of socialist realism. In the 1960s, with the advent of neoavant-garde writing, Zajc's poems won renewed appreciation and became part of the national canon. Zajc also writes for children (poems, prose and plays). He is best known, however, for his poetic plays, such as Children of the River (Otroka reke). A former Fulbright fellow at Columbia University in New York , he has seen the publication of his collected works in five volumes in 1990. Zajc received the Prešeren Prize for lifetime achievement in 1981.

By the same author

• You Are Not
• The Same
• The Game of Words and Silence
• The Crow
• The Captive Wolf
• Southern Dreams
• Scorpions
• Lump Of Ashes
• Great Black Bull
• Bells Of A New Day
• Barren Harvest