News

And off I go!

My dear readers, this Wednesday I’m retreating for 5 weeks to my island of Brač to paddle on my SUP, taste the sea and eat some black gnocchi with seafood – but above all to research and write miraculous venetian stories about the female ancestors of my main character Sebastiano. What a challenge this will be!

June 6th

Today is Sebastiano’s birthday. It was a hot afternoon on the crowded piazza and the sea gulls were going wild under the glowing Venetian sky as he saw into his mother’s eyes – with certainty that something was wrong, very wrong.

My Leipzig fairy tale

Book fair in Leipzig, 2011. A Croatian native speaker presents to the world her debut novel. After the world has already fallen in love with the story of Dora and Luka – so passionately that everybody wants it.

Discovery

I made a heart-warming discovery recently. In a box in my cellar I found an unfinished novel I wrote when I was a teenager. Everything was still there, hand written: the three notebooks; a map of Great Britain ripped out of my school atlas; research notes; a list of characters; relevant historical events. I didn’t have to read the manuscript to know which book had inspired me to write it.

My Church and I

This is one of the most beautiful views of Chiesa Madonna dell’Orto in Venice, sestiere Cannaregio. In my Venice-trilogy it is of great importance, not only because it is the favorite church of Elisabetta, the nòna of my main character Sebastiano, but because it is a scene of some fateful incidents in the first book. I, Elisabetta’s and Sebastiano’s creator, love it first and foremost for the painting – that is not there any more.
When ever I visit Venice its understated elegance attracts me like a wild fragrance of a spring blossom dazzles hundreds of butterflies on the loose. This March was no exception.

In the read-out jury

It was such an honor to be a part of the jury for the regional 27th Read-Out Competition among Schools of Economics and be able to listen to those wonderful, highly motivated kids.

Venice again and again

Even when I am not working on my Venice novel or when I am not strolling through the Venetian calli – Serenissima is always on my mind. It is my home.