Miro Gavran
Miro Gavran is a contemporary Croatian author, born in 1961. His works have been translated into 35 languages, and his books have come out in 150 different editions at home and abroad. His dramas and comedies have had more than 200 theatre first nights around the world and have been seen by more than two million theatre-goers.
He is the only living dramatist in Europe to have a theatre festival devoted solely to his plays outside his/her homeland; the Gavranfest has been held in Slovakia since 2003.
He debuted in 1983 with the drama Creon's Antigone, speaking out forcefully about political manipulation. This was followed three years later by the drama Night of the Gods, the theme being the relationship between the artist and the powers-that-be under a totalitarian system. He then wrote a cycle of plays concentrating on male-female relations, in which his heroes were often great historical persons. He has created a series of complex female characters. His heroines are both strong and emotional. He has written some forty plays to date, including Death of an Actor, All About Women, All About Men, George Washington's Loves, Chekhov Says Good-Bye to Tolstoy, How To Kill The President, Greta Garbo's Secret, Parallel Worlds, Nora in Our Time, My Wife's Husband, Dr Freud's Patient...
There have been first nights of his plays throughout the world, in: Rotterdam, Washington, Moscow, Rio de Janeiro, Paris, Buenos Aires, Waterford, Mumbai, Bratislava, Prague, Ljubljana, Sarajevo, Krakow, Belgrade, Budapest, Athens, Augsburg, Vienna, Sofia.
He has had nine novels published: Forgotten Son, How We Broke Our Legs, Klara, Margita or A Journey into a Former Life, Judith, John the Baptist, Pontius Pilate and The Only Witness to Beauty, Kafka's friend, along with a collection of short stories entitled Small Unusual People.
In his early novels, he describes life in the Croatian provinces, featuring everyday folk, anti-heroes of sorts, who retain a positive stance towards life even when they are confronted with injustice and major difficulties. This is perhaps best seen in his novel, Forgotten Son (1989), in which the central personage is a slightly mentally challenged young man of twenty.
As a forty-year-old, Gavran started to write psychological-existential novels inspired by biblical characters, bringing them nearer to the sensibilities of contemporary readers. These books have been popular with both believers and non-believers, since their messages are universal.
His books have been published in all corners of the globe: in Beijing, Vienna, St Petersburg, Oslo, Istanbul, Paris, Prague, Bratislava, Sofia, Ljubljana...
Gavran has received more than twenty literary awards in Croatia and abroad, including the Central European Time Award, given annually in Budapest to the best Central European author for overall opus, as well as the European Circle Award given to writers for the confirmation of European values in their texts.
With insight and humour, Miro Gavran has written eight books for children and young people: All Sorts of Things in My Head, How Dad Won Mum, Head Over Heels in Love, Happy Days, Farewell Letter, Plays with a Head and a Tail, Try to Forget and The Teacher of My Dreams. These books have also found their way to adult readers.
Gavran earned his degree in Dramaturgy at the Academy of Theatre, Film and Television in Zagreb.
He first worked as a dramaturge and theatre director at the famous ITD Theatre in Zagreb. Since 1993, he has been living and working as a free-lance, professional writer. His theatre and prose texts have been included in numerous anthologies in Croatia and in countries outside its borders, and his work is studied at universities throughout the world.
He has been living in Zagreb, Croatia since he was twenty. He is married to the actress Mladena Gavran, and founded the Gavran Theatre with her in 2002. Their son Jakov is a student of acting.
“Najljepše i najdublje čitateljsko iskustvo ostvarujemo upravo dok čitamo svoje pisce... Poznat nam je društveni i povijesni kontekst u kojem su djela nastala, razumljive su nam aluzije na koje nailazimo, igre riječi, poznati su nam opisani prostori, a o razumijevanju mentaliteta ne moram ni govoriti. Kao čitatelji najviše profitiramo čitajući svoje književnike.”
“Ipak smo svi mi tek obični ljudi, i jedino što je važno to je da li je netko dobar ili nije.”
“Samo smo se milovali i ljubili, i to je bilo kao da razgovaramo na neki drugačiji način, kao da poljupcima kažemo nešto za što bi trebalo deset rečenica, i tko zna da li bi i tada bilo kazano do kraja.”
“...daj što filozofiraš i moraliziraš, ljudi vole da se nadaju, a ni to nije mala stvar u životu.”
“Sigurno nešto nije u redu sa srećom kad toliko ljudi preko noći bez rada želi doći do sreće.”
“I ako jednog dana vidite da me ne vidite znajte da sam u Indiji.”
“I onda smo išli još dugo kroz šumu, ne govoreći ništa, ali ovaj put je u toj tišini bilo neke ljepote, bilo je naše savezništvo.”
“A meni je bilo čudno otkud teta Lucija zna sve što se događa u selu, i zna sve što je netko rekao i ovaj što je njemu odgovorio, i tko je kamo otputovao, i što tamo radi. Teta Lucija me podsjeća na televizijski dnevnik, jer i na dnevniku ispričaju što se sve dogodilo na raznim stranama. Samo dnevnik traje pola sata, a teta Lucija mnogo duže.”
“A ja bih tako volio da su svi ljudi sretni, i baš je lijepo kad je netko veseo ili kad se netko smije, i baš je to lijepo kad se nekome dogodi nešto lijepo, pa mu i lice bude cijeli dan lijepo, i ja ništa ne znam zašto ti ljudi nisu sretni i veseli, kao da neće, ili ne znaju kako treba biti sretan, ili se čak boje toga.”