After 1980, Dimitrij Rupel left out no chance of confronting the system, or rule, in power at the time. He was a co-founder and editor of the Nova revija journal, which published the famous “Contributions to Slovenia’s National Programme;” he founded a political party (SDZ) and joined the Demos coalition, which set up the first democratic government and achieved Slovenia’s statehood. It was already on January 13, 1990, that he published in the Delo daily the article “Headed for Europe via Belgrade or via Ljubljana?” Rupel had served as a mayor of Ljubljana and as an ambassador to Washington. As the first Slovenia’s foreign minister, he contributed decisively to the international recognition that came half a year after independence was declared, and to Slovenia’s entry into the EU and NATO. He was the president of the OSCE in 2005, and was head of the Council of Europe for General Matters and Foreign Relations in 2008. Before becoming a minister, Rupel had taught for some years at the Ljubljana Faculty of Sociology, Political Studies and Journalism (where he became a full professor), as well as at the Canada Queen’s University, the New York New School for Social Research and the Cleveland State University. He is the author of several novels, memoirs, sociology and international relations books. Today he is a deserving professor of the Nova univerza university.

Dora Kaštrun (1994) attended art high school before enrolling in the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana, where she studied animation in the Illustration Department. She exhibited her work in a number of group shows as well as three solo shows. As an illustrator, she works on a variety of commercial projects, designs and illustrates books and CD covers, and paints murals. She has always been interested in drawing as a way of telling stories, and in illustration, she is passionate about coming up with new ideas and solving visual problems, all while paying close attention to the harmonious relationship between picture and word.

As a novelist, short-story writer, playwright, and essayist, Drago Jančar (1948) is a central figure in contemporary Slovenian literature. His writing has revealed an artistic ability to formulate and express ideas that reach far beyond the spiritual and cultural sphere of his native country, making him the most translated Slovenian writer ever. His novels, essays and short stories have been translated into 33 languages and published in Europe, Asia and the Americas. His dramas have also been staged by a number of foreign theatres, while at home they are frequently considered the highlights of the Slovenian theatri- cal season.

Illustrator and graphic designer, she studied in Urbino, Italy. Later she perfected her skills in illustration and art in Germany, England, Austria, and Italy. She has been living for several years in Rome, where she collaborated with different graphic design and advertising companies, she also collaborated with private and institutional realities Ferrara, Torino, Milan and Paris. She worked for different customers: Bertolli, Molinari, Ferrarelle, Nastro Azzurro, Ferrero, Martini, Trenitalia, Wind, Indosuez, Multithematic, Fao and others. Her illustrations have been published in different books and magazines, in Italy and abroad. Awards: In 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 was been selected for the Annual of the Italian Illustrators. In 2015 her book The Elephant tree was nominated for the best book in Slovenia. 2019 PEN translates Award for the picture book Felix After the Rain (originally published as Srečkov kovček by Zala Publishing, Slovenia, 2017, in 2020 published by Tiny Owl, and translated by Olivia Hellewell, Great Britain).

Dušan Jelinčič (Trieste, 1953) is a writer, journalist and alpinist. In his works, he deals with various topics: mountaineering, historical, criminal and fantastic-mystical. He wrote several novels "Zvezdnate noči" (Starry Nights); "Biseri pod snegom" (The Pearls under the snow); "Tema na pomolu" (Darkness on the pier); "Umor pod K2" (Murder under the K2); "Budovo oko" (The Eye of Buddha); "Bela dama Devinska" (The White Lady from Devin) etc.; essays "Eseji z zahodnega roba" (Essays from the Western Edge); dramatic texts "Kobarid 38. Kronika atentata" (Kobarid 38. Chronicle of an assassination); "Aleksander od kresnic" (Aleksander of fireflies) etc.; and short stories "Tržaške prikazni" (Ghosts of Trieste); "Legenda o človeku, ki je govoril z vetrom" (The legend of the man who spoke to the wind); "Prazne sobe" (Empty rooms) etc. His works have been translated into Italian, German and Croatian.

Dušan Šarotar (1968) is a writer, poet, screen- writer and photographer. He has published five novels, two collections of short stories, three poetry collections and a book of essays. He is also the author of fifteen screenplays for documen- tary and feature films. His short film Mario Was Watching the Sea with Love (Mario je gledal morje z zaljubljenimi očmi), based on short stories from his collection Blind Spot (Mrtvi kot), won the

2016 Global Short Film Award in New York and the first prize in Ningbo, China, for best short film. Šarotar’s novels, stories and poems have been translated into several languages. Two of his novels, Billiards at the Hotel Dobray (Biljard v Dobrayu, 2007) and Panorama (2015), were nom- inated for the Kresnik Award for best novel of the

year. Šarotar has also had several photographic 43

exhibitions in national galleries and abroad.

Playwright Eva Mahkovic (1986) works at the Ljubljana City Theater (MGL). Her role requires her to analyze human interactions and psychology in order to find solutions to issues raised by the plays' texts and characters. She enjoys adapting books for the stage, such as Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre, and The Wings of the Dove by Henry James. Occasionally, she also does translation work. Eva Mahkovic is the author of the play Little Queens (Male kraljice), which was performed by the Ljubljana Puppet Theater in 2017, as well as of the collection of Facebook poetry on a day like this mastercard takes the blow (na tak dan najbolj trpi mastercard, 2019).

Catholic iconography, Alexander McQueen, holy virgin Marys made of porcelain, greyhounds, Edith Wharton, Deyrolle, making up her own worlds, lists, and other lovely and odd things are some of her passions.

Eva Mlinar (1985) completed studies in visual communication and art history at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana. She mainly devotes herself to illustration, and her favorite field of creation is theatre: she has created play posters for theatres in New York, as well as book covers for the library of the Ljubljana City Theater. She is currently in charge of the visual presentation of the plays produced by the Novo mesto Anton Podbevšek Theater. With graphic designer Hana Jesih, she co-authored an artist's book IMPRESSIONS: Ljubljana / Istanbul (IMPRESIJE: Ljubljana/Istanbul), which is the outcome of their year-long visual correspondence. Collage elements are frequently used to enhance her artworks. She is fervently interested in the grotesque, antiquated atlases, the Near East, and the Middle Ages.

Evelina Umek (Trieste, 1939) graduated from the Department of Slavic Studies of the Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana. She worked in publishing and then as an editor in the children's and youth program of RTV Slovenia. She wrote several books for children. She translated a lot from Italian to Slovenian. The Mladika publishing house published children's works "Sprehod z baronom in drugimi imenitnimi Slovenci" (A walk with the baron and other illustrious Slovenians), "Malka gre v Trst" (Malka goes to Trieste) and "Deklica in metulj" (The girl and the butterfly), and books for adults: collections of short stories by "Mandrija in druge zgodbe" (Mandrija and other stories) and "Odtisi v času" (Imprints in time), as well as the novels "Frizerka" (The hairdresser), "Hiša na Krasu" (The house on the Karst), Po sledeh fate morgane" (Following Fata Morgana), "Zlata poroka ali tržaški blues" (Golden wedding or Trieste blues) and "Sidrišče spomina" (Anchorage of memory). For the collection "Mandrija in druge zgodbe" she received the Vstajenje literary award.

Franček Drenovec (1951) is a macroeconomic analyst who publishes not only scientific works but also non-specialist contributions. Due to his incisiveness in the fields of political economy and the broader social sciences, he is also interesting for sociologists and general readers.