Slovenian people

As Slovenia celebrates the Year of Ivan Tavčar in 2023 with a number of events dedicated to the Slovenian writer, lawyer and politician (1851-1923) and his legacy, experts note the many fields that captured his interest. Together with his wife, Franja Tavčar (1868-1938), he helped build a liberal stronghold and supported fellow artists.

Ljubljana – The 70th Ljubljana Festival, one of the most high-profile festivals in the country, will open in Congress Square with tonight’s tribute to the Slovenian poets who have contributed lyrics for some of the most memorable Slovenian pop songs, especially in the 1960s and 1970s.

Visoko – The Visoko Manor, once home to Slovenian author, politician and Ljubljana mayor Ivan Tavčar (1851-1923), is being renovated with plans to set up a rehabilitation centre and secure tourist accommodation to revive the local economy and enable higher-quality tourist services in the region around the town of Škofja Loka, north-west.

Ljubljana – The Festival of LGBT Film, organised in Ljubljana by the ŠKUC Association, returns to cinemas on Saturday after going online last year. While government financing has been almost halved, the festival will still screen over 40 productions from 22 countries until 19 December, organiser Brane Mozetič said.

Ljubljana – A Slovenian literary classic that once aroused the interest of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios, the epic novel Under the Free Sun has now come out in a comic-strip format with the authors hoping to bring it out on stage and as an animated film one day.

A bust of Alojz Rebula (1924-2018), an award-wining diaspora writer and translator, has been unveiled in front of the Church of St Helen in Loka pri Zidanem Mostu, the birth place of his wife, where he spent the last years of his life.

Ljubljana – Goran Vojnović has written a sequel to his bestselling debut novel Čefurji Raus! after 13 years. Đorđić se Vrača (Đorđić Returns) is no longer a story about Slovenians and immigrants from the former Yugoslavia and their children, but about a world that is disappearing.

Ljubljana – Drago Jančar, arguably Slovenia’s leading contemporary writer, has been nominated for this year’s Nobel Prize in Literature. He was nominated by the Slovenian Writers’ Association (DSP), the Slovenian PEN centre and the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SAZU).