Jela Krečič Žižek and Olivia Hellewell

Nottingham, 31 October 2016

Jela Krečič Žižek is a Slovene journalist, columnist and philosopher. Her 2015 literary debut Ni Druge [None Like Her] tells the story of Matjaž, a photographer who embarks on an odyssey of dates around the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana in an attempt to prove that he has moved on from his previous love. The women he meets differ wildely from one another, and the interactions of the characters are perspicuously and memorably observed. Their preoccupations – drawn with coruscating dialogue – capture the mood and challenges of Slovenia’s Generation Y, and in Matjaž, the hero, Jela Krečič has created a well-observed crypto-misogynist of the 21st century, whose behaviour she offers up to the reader’s scrutiny. None Like Her is now available in English (Istros Books/Peter Owen).

Olivia Hellewell is a literary translator and PhD student in the Department of Russian and Slavonic Studies and Centre for Translation and Comparative Cultural Studies at the University of Nottingham. Her PhD research explores the socio-cultural functions of translated literature in Slovenia, looking at image-making through translation since Slovenia’s declaration of independence in 1991. Olivia has previously translated short stories, poems and literary extracts including the prize-winning 'Dry Season' by Gabriela Babnik for the European Commission’s EU Prize for Literature. None Like Her by Jela Krečič marks her full-length literary translation debut.

This event was sponsored by Beletrina Academic Press, the Centre for Slovene as a Second/Foreign Language and the Embassy of Slovenia in the UK. The series is organised by the IMLR in association with the University of Nottingham.