Lojze Kovačič

Who was Lojze Kovačič?

Lojze Kovačič was a Slovene writer. His novel The Newcomers is often considered one of the most important Slovene novels of the 20th century and has been translated into German, French, Spanish, and Dutch.

Kovačič was born to a Slovene father and a German mother in Basel, Switzerland in 1928. When his patriotic father refused Swiss citizenship, his family was expelled from Switzerland in 1938 and moved first to rural Lower Carniola and then to Ljubljana, just at the outbreak of the Second World War. His father's death in 1944 shifted the burden of supporting the family onto Lojze. At the end of the war, the mere fact that they were half German made them suspicious and the whole family apart from Lojze were deported. Lojze remained despite frequent confrontations with the authorities. In 1962 he graduated in Slavic and Germanic Studies from the Faculty of Education of the University of Ljubljana. He found employment as an art and puppetry teacher in Ljubljana, and from 1978 to his retirement in 1989 he was also involved in literary education. Literary recognition did not come until the 1970s. Many of his novels are highly autobiographical. He received a number of awards, including the Prešeren Award in 1973 and the Kresnik Award for best novel in 1991 and 2004. In addition to his opus of adult fiction, he also published a number of books for children and young readers. He died in Ljubljana in 2004.