Polonca Kovač: Slovenia ⋆ Author

"A child is exposed to all the troubles of the adult world, and is much more vulnerable and psycho-socially less mature, so such stories must be written 'realistically' and without instant solutions. Not everything in life ends happily, not even in fairy tales; one has only to think of Andersen. However, we can push in the right direction."

Polonca Kovač

Born in 1937 in Ljubljana, Polonca Kovač earned a degree in comparative literature and Italian from the Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana. She then taught Italian and German at the Cene Štupar Workers University in Ljubljana. She later worked at the Counseling Centre for Children and Adolescents in Ljubljana, and then taught German in the Centre for Foreign Languages. Now a full-time writer, Kovač is the author of over thirty original texts. Her literary works for children and young adults encompass different genres, including fantasy tales, stories, and fairytales for children; realistic fiction and non-fiction for teenagers; plays; screenplays for television, and textbooks. Kovač is known for creating important texts of high quality in all genres.

Kovač is also renowned as a translator. Her translation of the work of the Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales made the IBBY Honor List in 2008, and her other important translations include Anne Frank's Diary of a Young Girl, and books by Michael Ende and Arcado Lobato. Kovač's translations of Francesca Simon's Horrid Henry series were chosen five times for the Slovene "My Favourite Book" Award. She has also won the 2000 Večernica Award for the work Kaja in njena družina [Kaja and Her Family] (1999), and the 2009 Levstik Award for her life work.

Kovač's stories for children most often function entirely realistically in that they describe people, their behavior and the characteristics, and the "real world." Her children and young adults, in their sadness and confusion, in their considerations of life's problems, thus come to matter to their young readers. Ultimately, Kovač writes as an advocate for young people, realistically but with great joy and humor.