MARINA VUJČIĆ
Croatia
Вorn in 1966 in Trogir, Marina graduated in Croatian language and Yugoslav literature at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb.
In 2010 she published the novel "Tuđi život" (Someone else's life). The novel "A onda je Božo krenuo ispočetka" (And than Bozho started from the beginning) in 2015 was shortlisted in four Croatian titles nominated for the European Prize for Literature. In 2014, she received the national award of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia "Marin Držić" for the play "Umri ženski" ("Die a female death").
In 2015, she published the novel "Mogla sam to biti ja" (It could have been me). In the same year, she won the award for the best unpublished novel of 2015 in the competition of V. B. Z. and Tisak media with the novel "Susjed" (Neighbor).
For the novel "Pedeset cigareta za Elenu" (Fifty cigarettes for Elena) in 2021 she received the Booktig Award for the most read book in Istrian libraries.
Her works have been staged in theaters in Croatia and Albania.
She is a two-time winner of the Marin Držić Theater Award.
She is a member of the Croatian Writers' Association and currently is a director of drama in the Croatian National Theater in Split.
PEDESET CIGARETA ZA ELENU (FIFTY CIGARETTES FOR ELENA)
Translation: Vladimir Jankovski
"Pedeset cigareta za Elenu" (Fifty cigarettes for Elena) is based on the theory of chaos, the "butterfly effect" on the level of the little man and his everyday life.
In memory of the birthday of his twin sister, who died twenty-six years ago, Oliver Radman decides to smoke fifty cigarettes. He lights his first cigarette and walks through the city at midnight, not realizing that it will affect the lives of three people: a desperate mother who did not know her husband was a criminal, a young journalist who can’t sleep if someone is next to him in bed and a depressed young woman trapped in an unhappy marriage.
"Marina is almost a film director and a brilliant editor of her own literary dreams. Her characters walk through Zagreb and we meet them every day. I recognize their faces, their hair color and eyes. A brilliant, really brilliant novel..."
Rade Šerbedzija