Lela B. Njatin


Lela B. Njatin is a Slovene writer and visual artist. She is best known for her novel Nestrpnost and her conceptual art installations.

Biography

B. Njatin was born in Ljubljana in 1963. She studied Comparative literature and Philosophy at the University of Ljubljana. Most of her career she is a self-employed writer and artist. She also worked as an editor and a public relations consultant. She mostly writes short stories that have been published in several anthologies at home and abroad. Her 1988 novel Nestrpnost won her critical acclaim and has been reprinted and also translated into Croatian. Her fairy tale Velikanovo srce was nominated for the Večernica Award and has also been translated into Czech and Croatian. Her work has also been was published in several anthologies abroad, including: Schnellstrasse, Fernlicht/Hitra cesta, ostra luč, Kovič, Grafenauer, Šalamun, Jančar, B. Njatin ; The Day Tito Died, Jančar, Gradišnik, Virk, B. Njatin, Blatnik ; The Third Shore, Women's Fiction from East Central Europe, anthology of ten authors. Outstanding is her contribution to a monograph on Antony Gormley. In the field of visual arts she works as a conceptual artist and explores the relation between literature and art. She started by writing conceptual poetry in the 1970s. Mostly she creates mixed-media art installations, among them I didn’t want to know, but I have since come to know and Absence, Hommage à Igor Zabel. In 2016, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb presented a retrospective of her works Subversive Body. Conceptual works 1977-2015. In 2021, Gallery Miklova hiša Ribnica and Pilon’s gallery Ajdovščina presented her work from 2005-2020 with an exhibition and a monograph publication Because We Are Not Just Images, We Are People. 2005 – 2020. She has also notably contributed to the graphic arts in Slovenia. In 2022, her work One must rely on Art was selected for the contemporary production overview exhibition Prints and Impressions II, and in 2005 her work With the left hand was included in the retrospective exhibition Avant-garde and alternative prints in Slovenia from conceptualism to the present day, both at MGLC-International Centre of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana.

Published works

Rošlin in Verjanko, 1987Nestrpnost, 1988, reprinted 1991 & 2018Začasno bivališče, 1990Velikanovo srce, 1997Zakaj je babica jezna, 2011Lokalitetno v identiteti, 2020Smer srca, 2022Samski blok, 2022

Performed works

  • short film What to do, B. Njatin based on the original screenplay by co-authors B. Njatin, Ravnikar, Oražem, 1981
  • feature-length video-film Intolerance based on motifs from B. Njatin’s novel Intolerance, 1991
  • theatre performance The Manifestations of Home based on motifs from B. Njatin’s short story The Sky over Ljubljana, 2004
  • theatre miniature I didn't want to know, but I have since learned to know based on the original script by B. Njatin, 2005
  • short film Girl with a Flute based on B. Njatin’s fairy tale Girl with a Flute, 2018
  • the video-cartoon The Giant and the Little Fish based on the original script by B. Njatin, 2019