Monika Herceg

Lovostaj

Language: croatian

Translations: german (Schonzeit)

Lovostaj

Nakon stodvadeset stepenica
noge su odjednom klimava ležišta i
dječje štucanje odzvanja zdjelicom
kao da je pupak pojeo hipocentar

U stanu ispod susjed je mjesecima
skupljao kapi u lavore
po svim sobama
Tko zna kad je zapravo
pukla cijev u njenoj kupaonici

Ovaj tjedan bušit će zidove,
tražiti njihovu pukotinu
Temperature su ispod nule,
u njoj smrznut strah
da mlijeko neće poteći

Takvi dani kad se ljudi ljušte uz pistacije,
na blagajnama šutke upadaju
u četvrtine kruha
i nema se kome priznati

Jaki mraz
prekrio je jutros
mrtve košute,
iako je lovostaj

Monika Herceg

photo © Tanja Draškić Savić

* 19.10.1990, Sisak, Croatia
lives in: Zagreb, Croatia

Monika Herceg (born 1990, in Sisak) is a poet, playwright, editor, feminist and popular science activist from Croatia. She is a prominent young poet of a new generation in Croatia and the most awarded young author in recent Croatian history.

She grew up near Petrinja, is studying physics at the University of Rijeka and raises two kids in Zagreb.

In 2017 she won Goran the most prominent award for young authors in Croatia. As a result her first book was published in 2018 to critical acclaim and has since won the Kvirin Award, the Fran Galović Award, the Slavić Award and the international award Mostovi Struge. That made her literary debut the most awarded poetry book in Croatian history. Her second book Lovostaj (The Closed Season) appeared in 2019. The manuscript won the Na vrh jezika award for best unpublished poetry volume in 2018.

photo © Tanja Draškić Savić

Internationally she won the second prize of the International Poetry Competition Castello di Duino in Italy back in 2016 and in 2018 The Bridges of Struga award for young authors from Mostovi Struge festival in Macedonia. In 2021 she won the Fierce Women Award for her activism.

Her work has been translated into more than ten languages and published in some of the most important magazines. She is a part of Versopolis, a platform for the promotion of young European authors. Trilingual poetry chapbooks have been published in Lithuania and Austria. A selection of works has been published in French, too: “Ciel sous tension”, L’Ollave, 2019.

Her stories were awarded with several regional and national awards, such as the Biber Award and the Lapis Histriae.

Her drama Gdje se kupuju nježnosti (Where to Buy Tenderness) was awarded by the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb. She has also received the Marin Držić award, the most important award for drama plays in Croatia (for Kill Yourself, Dear Father).

She is a member of the Croatian Writers' Society and in the editorial board of their magazine.

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