SLOBODAN NOVAK|Back to Contents

Slobodan Novak, a member of the Croatian academy, was born on November 3, 1924 in Split into an old Croatian working-class family. When he was two years old, before his mother's death, he was taken to his aunt Antonia on the island of Rab where he spent his childhood and his early teenage years.
He graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb having studied Croatian language and literature in1953.
He has worked as sub-editor, language editor and proof-reader, newspaper editor, director of drama in the Croatian National Theatre in Split, editor in various publishing houses, and as the chief of the editorial board of the „Naprijed“ publishing house in Zagreb. He started and edited the literary journals “Izvor” and “Krugovi” and he served as the director of the Department for the History of Croatian Literature, Drama and Music at the Croatian Academy of Science and Art (HAZU) in Zagreb and was a member of the Managing Board of the HAZU foundation.
He writes short stories, novels, radio plays, essays, screenplays, polemical texts.
His main works are:
“Izgubljeni zavičaj” (Lost Homeland), short novel,
“Tvrdi grad” (Tough City), short story collection,
“Mirisi, zlato i tamjan” (Scents, Gold and Frankincense), a novel,
“Izvanbrodski dnevnik” (Outboard Diary), short novel,
“Digresije” (Digressions), autobiographical notes, and a longer edition: “Protimbe” (Contrarieties),
“Pristajanje” (Putting to Shore), a novel.
He is a member of the Croatian Writers Society, of Matica hrvatska and of the Croatian Society of Sciences and the Arts.
He has been awarded some 15 literary prizes.
He received three decorations both in ex-Yugoslavia and in independent Croatia. He is an honorary citizen of the city of Rab. HAZU has nominated him a number of times for the Nobel prize.

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