Dragutin Tadijanović

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Dragutin Tadijanović

Dragutin Tadijanović
(in 2005, at the time of his 100th birthday)
Born November 4, 1905 (1905-11-04)
Flag of Austria-Hungary Rastušje, Croatia-Slavonia, Austria-Hungary
Died June 27, 2007 (aged 101)
Flag of Croatia Zagreb, Croatia
Occupation Poet

Dragutin Tadijanović (November 4, 1905June 27, 2007) was a renowned Croatian poet and erudite cordially referred to as 'Bard' in Croatia.

Tadijanović was born in the village of Rastušje close to Slavonski Brod in the region of Slavonia. He published his first poem in 1922. He graduated in literature and philosophy at the University of Zagreb in 1937.

He worked as the lector of the official paper Narodne novine (1935-1940), taught at the Academy of Arts in Zagreb (1939-1945). Later he worked at the publishing house "Zora", "Hrvatski pjesnici", as well as Matica hrvatska, before becoming an editor at the. He joined the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts's Literary Institute, where he became the director in 1953 and served until his retirement in 1973. He was the president of the Society of Croatian Writers in 1964-1965, and he also became an academician of the Academy.

Tadijanović holds distinction as one of the most popular and most influential Croatian poets of 20th century. His poem Balada o zaklanim ovcama ("Ballad of Slaughtered Sheep"), written in 1930s, is one of the most powerful works of Croatian literature.

His works were translated into 20-odd languages, and he published over 500 poems in some twenty collections.

Having died at the age of 101, he was among the longest living writers in Croatian history with generations having to study his poems in school. His last couple of birthdays were marked with reports on national TV, awards and other special events and his commemoration ceremony was held at the Old City Hall on uphill Zagreb attended by the Mayor of Zagreb and other political and cultural officials[1].

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