Slovenians from abroad to present their art in Ljubljana
Ljubljana, 18 April - The Government Office for Slovenians Abroad is starting a series of events at which ethnic Slovenian artists from around the globe will present their work to Slovenians at home. The first to appear in Ljubljana as part of the In the Homeland series tonight will be young Slovenian minority writer Alex Kama Devetak from Italy's Gorizia.
Ljubljana
The seat of the Government Office for Slovenians Abroad.
Photo: Tamino Petelinšek/STA
File photo
Devetak is the winner of the 2021 Urška Young Literature Festival and author of the 2022 collection of short stories Nedelač (Not Far), his debut.
He will present his work in a talk with State Secretary at the Office for Slovenians Abroad Vesna Humar, the office said as it announced the series.
It invited "all lovers of literature, music and other arts" to attend the events to "get to know Slovenian artists from abroad and their works up close in the capital".
Nedaleč brings 15 short stories which focus on relationships, communities and individuals, living on the border, side by side with the sea, on youth and inter-generational connections etc. They can also be read as a novel since the characters intertwine, complement each other or bounce off each other.
"Life is a secret, a fact that is hard to accept. It is good if somebody is able to write about this so well," the Young Literature Festival jury praised his short stories.
Devetak was born in 1992 in Gorizia, and is constantly "torn" between two worlds - Italy and Slovenia, literature and film, fiction and poetry, novels and comics.
He holds a master's degree in comparative literature and Slovenian studies, and currently works at the National and Study Library in Gorizia and Trieste.
He is also editor for fiction at the journal for contemporary literature Nebulae. He writes mostly short stories but also plays.