IVANA BRLIC-MAZURANIC (1874 - 1938)

Ivana Brlic Mazuranic was born in Ogulin on April 18, 1874, into very  well known Mazuranic family, grandchild of Ivan, poet, politician and Croatian ban, and daughter of Vladimir lawyer and legal historian. Through  her marriage to Vatroslav Brlic, lawyer and politician in Slovenski Brod, she bacame part of yet another  family very well known in Croatian society; it provided Ignjat Alojzije, writer and linguist, and  Andrija Tokvart Brlic, politician and journalist, important names of a line  that was as well known in Croatian cultural and social life as the Mazuranic family. Surrounded by capacious libraries in the both houses, by an atmosphere of work and patriotism, she attained a very considerable learning in her own home, learned languages and lived a rich and intense inner life. She  devoted all her work to her family, to education and to her literary creations.

Highly valued by both national and foreign critics, she obtained the title of  "Croatian Hans Cristian Andresen" for the collection of Tales of Long Ago. Her place as the best  writer in Croatian   children's  literature is assurred. She had the ability to identify with the psyche of the child, to understand the purity and naivety of the world of children. Her works has been translated into many languages  and she was nominated for  the Nobel prize for literature. In the 1937 she became the first woman ever to be elected to the Croatian Academy of Scinces and Arts. She died in Zagreb on September 21, 1938.

    The Works of Ivana  Brlic - Mazuranic

• The good and the mischievous. Tales and poems for children.  Published by the author, Zagreb,1902.

• School and holidays. A collection of poems and tales for children.  Published by the Croatian Teaching and Literary  Union,  Zagreb  1905.

• Pictures. Poems. C. Albrect Printers, Zagreb, 1912.

• The Marvellous Adventures and Misadventures of Hlapic the Apprentice. Tales. Published by the Croatian Teaching and Literary  Union,  Zagreb, 1913.

• Tales of Long Ago. Published by Matica Hrvatska,  Zagreb, 1916.

• A Book for Youth . Sketches . Published by  the author. Zagreb 1923.From the Archives of the Brlic's   Family in Brod on the Sava. Tipografija d.d. Zagreb, 1934-35.

• Jaša Dalmatin Viceroy of the Gujarati.   Novel.  Published by Vask Bookshop,  Zagreb 1937.

• Gingerbread Heart. Tales and Poems for the young. Zagreb 1939.