Lela B. Njatin

Photo: Jane Štravs

Lela B. Njatin

http://www.lelabnjatin.si/

Born 1963 in Ljubljana, where she lives. Doctor of philosophy. University degree in philosophy and comparative literature. Works as a self-employed. She often creates interdisciplinary art.

Selected bibliography:

Nestrpnost, novel (original in Slovenian; Književna mladina Slovenije, Ljubljana 1988, reprint. Aleph, Ljubljana 1991)
The Day Tito Died (translations into English; Forrest Books, London 1993 – together with D. Jančar, B. Gradišnik, J. Virk, A. Blatnik)
Izza potresa : novele, short stories (original in Slovenian; LUD Literatura, Ljubljana 1995 – together with J. Virk in J. Hudeček)
Antony Gormley, I want to use time as matter, short story (original in English; Phaidon Press, London 1995, revis. reprint. 2000 – together with E. H. Gombrich, J. Hutchinson, W. J. T. Mitchell)
Nouvelles Slovenes (translation into French; Editions Autre Temps, Marseille 1996 – together with L. Kovačič, D. Jančar, J. Virk, A. Blatnik)
Sakrarij (translations into Bosnian; Vodnikova domačija, Ljubljana 1996)
Velikanovo srce, fairy-tale (original in Slovenian; Aleph, Ljubljana 1996)
Netrpeljivost (translation into Croatian; Naklada MD, Zagreb 1997)
Divovo srce (translation into Croatian; Meandar, Zagreb 1997)
Divovo srdce (translation into Czech; Nakladatelstvi F. Raček, Klobouky u Brna 1999)
The Third Shore, Women’s Fiction from East Central Europe (translations into English; Northwestern University Press, Evanston 2005; reprint. Brandon Books, London 2007 – together with Diana Culi, Mira Meksi, Sanja Lovrenčič, Alma Lazarevska, Ljiljana Đurđić, Judita Šalgo, Jadranka Vladova, Hristina Marianova, Daniela Crasnaru et al.)
Schnellstrasse, Fernlicht/Hitra cesta, ostra luč (translation into German; Droschlverlag, Graz-Mladinska knjiga, Ljubljana 1990 – together with K. Kovič, N. Grafenauer, T. Šalamun, D. Jančar)
Lela B. Njatin : Proza / Fiction (original in Slovenian, translation into Croatian and English; Hrvatski P.E.N. centar, Zagreb 2006)
Zakaj je babica jezna, fable (original in Slovenian; Center za slovensko književnost, Ljubljana 2011)
Življenjski krog / The Cycle of Life, tryptih of fairy-tales, exposed in the urban space (original in Slovenian, translation into English; various producers, Kočevje, Piran, Kranj 2011-2013, part of the programme Oko besede/Cultural Capital of Europe 2012)
Signatures I, prose fragments in exhibition format (original in Slovenian, translation into English; Cankarjev dom, Ljubljana 2015)
Why Granny is angry (translation into Croatian; Meandar, Zagreb 2014)
Nestrpnost, author’s revision (expanded text, Aleph, Ljubljana 2019)
Pho_Wo_Com, haiku cycle in exhibition format (original in English; on Instagram platform since 2021)
Signatures II, very short stories and poems in exhibition format (original in Slovenian, translation into English; Art Gallery, Kočevje 2022)
Samski blok, novel (original in Slovenian; Cankarjeva založba, Ljubljana 2022)
Smer srca, fairy-tale (original in Slovenian; KUD Sodobnost International, Ljubljana 2022)

Victory! Or how the Fox, the Wolf, and the Bear swept away the Dirt, a tale (original in Slovenian; Sanje, Ljubljana 2023)

Awards and nominations:

1989 – The Golden Bird Award for novel Intolerance
1997 – nomination: The Vesper Award for fairy-tale The Giant’s Heart
2013 – nomination: The Tenth Child Award for fable Why Granny is angry
2016 – The Municipality Kočevje Award A Girl with Flute for professional excellence in the field of arts, humanities and culture
2022 – nomination: The Mira Award for the novel House of Solitude and for actively striving for a society based on self-reflection, benevolence and common good
2023 – nomination: the best essay selected by Sodobnost magazine (Kočevje is the Name for what is invisible but works)

Performed works:

1981 – short film What to do, B. Njatin (production of ŠKUC, Ljubljana and AUZO, Kočevje-Maribor) based on the original screenplay by co-authors B. Njatin, Ravnikar, Oražem
1991 – feature-length video-film Intolerance (directed by Neven Korda, produced by TV Slovenija and Brut Film, Ljubljana) based on motifs from B. Njatin’s novel Intolerance
2004 – theatre performance The Manifestations of Home (directed by Barbara Novakovič, produced by MGL and Zavod Muzeum, Ljubljana) based on motifs from the short story B. Njatin The Sky over Ljubljana
2005 – theatre miniature I didn’t want to know, but I have since learned to know (directed by Lela B. Njatin, produced by Zavod Muzeum, Ljubljana) based on the original script by B. Njatin
2018 – short film Girl with a Flute (directed by Jure Bradeško, produced by CZMK, Kočevje) based on the fairy tale by B. Njatin Girl with a Flute
2019 – the video-cartoon The Giant and the Little Fish (production of Gallery Miklova hiša Ribnica) based on the original script by B. Njatin
2024 – narrative improvisation staging of the tale Victory! Or how the Fox, the Wolf, and the Bear swept away the Dirt, interpretation in the Kočev dialect (drama actor Gašper Jarni), part of the program of the Slovenian Storytelling Festival (Cankarjev dom, Ljubljana)

Comics:

Design, scenario and image sequences for the comics Rostfrei, drawings by Felix Casio (in the magazine Problemi no. 7, Ljubljana 1982; republished in the book Punk was before, Cankarjeva založba and Ropot, Ljubljana 2002)