Croatian Writers' Association (; abbreviated DHK) is the official association of
Croatia
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
n writers. It was founded in 1900 in
Zagreb
Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...
with the goal "to unite writers and help them support one another, and promote
Croatian literature
Croatian literature refers to literary works attributed to the medieval and modern culture of the Croats, Croatia, and Croatian language, Croatian. Besides the modern language whose shape and orthography were standardized in the late 19th centu ...
regardless of political objectives", "to protect the interests and increase the reputation of writers" and "supports its members and their orphans."
The DHK's president is
Hrvojka Mihanović Salopek, while
Željka Lovrenčić and
Mirko Ćurić are vice-presidents.
History
In 1897 the Croatian Writers' Club (''Klub hrvatskih književnika'') unofficially operated as part of the Association of Croatian Artists (''Društvo hrvatskih umjetnika ''), and was led by
Milivoj Dežman. In 1898 the first informal agreement on the establishment of the Croatian Writers' Association was held, and a regulatory proposal was written.
Matica hrvatska in 1899 approved the establishment of a separate Association, and on March 17, 1900 the government approved its rules. Rules established four categories of members: real members (''pravi članovi''), association founders (''zakladnici''), founders (''utemeljitelji'') and associate members (''izvanredni članovi'').
The association was established by the so called ''Mladi'' (Young) writers contrary to ''Stari'' (Old) writers gathered in Matica hrvatska and it's journal Vienac.
At the inaugural meeting on April 2, 1900, held in the presence of 103 writers,
Ivan Trnski was elected for the first president of the Association. In 1906 a monthly Contemporary (''Savremenik'') was launched. At the end of the 1908 the series Modern Croatian Writers (''Suvremeni hrvatski pisci'') was established, which was particularly prominent under the editorship of
Julije Benešić (1909–1920). It was in that series that the famous anthology Croatian Young Lyric (''Hrvatska mlada lirika '') was published in 1914.
The association's first years were marked by convergent efforts towards Matica Hrvatska – the association's publications of the Modern Croatian Writers series and the magazine ''Contemporary'' were supported by Matica hrvatska as possibly jointly published. At the same time the association advocated literary unity of
Croats
The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central Europe, Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian Cultural heritage, ancest ...
and
Serbs
The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian Cultural heritage, ancestry, Culture of Serbia, culture, History of Serbia, history, and Serbian lan ...
, and proposals were made to issue a common literary magazine. In 1914 the association was temporarily suspended by a government decision due to the
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. The postwar efforts of the association were marked by a support to
linguistic
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...
and
orthographic unification of Croats and Serbs.
Due to failed agreements with Matica hrvatska, financial deficit and a fierce competition of the newly established magazines, the ''Contemporary'' ceased to be published in 1922, and after being temporarily issued in 1923 it was resuspended in 1924–1926. The topic of the establishment of the Yugoslav Writers' Association was actively discussed, and after a proposal of the Association of Writers in Belgrade "for all writers of our country be united in one association", the Committee of the Croatian Writers' Association replied in 1927 that it such initiatives are still premature, and has proposed an alliance of autonomous associations instead.
The death of
Stjepan Radić all the more strengthened the Croatian national spirit of the association. The Association operated during the period of
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia (, NDH) was a World War II–era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist Italy. It was established in parts of Axis occupation of Yugoslavia, occupied Yugoslavia on 10 April 1941, ...
as well. In 1945 the Association was renamed the Association of Writers of Croatia (''Društvo književnika Hrvatske''), new rules were approved and a new board was elected with
Luka Perković as the president.
A few dozen writers were punished by prohibiting their public work and a temporary suspension of having their works published.
In 1949 the Second Congress of the Writers' Union of Yugoslavia was held in Zagreb, in which the new administration was elected with
Ivo Andrić as the President, and the board consisting of
Miroslav Krleža,
Marin Franičević,
Josip Barković,
Petar Šegedin,
Viktor Car Emin and
Slavko Kolar. In 1964 the association's plenum unanimously adopted the
, and during the
Croatian Spring the association stood with Matica hrvatska in support the movement. In the 1980s, especially after the last congress of the Writers' Union of Yugoslavia in Novi Sad in 1985, the association was more actively involved in political life, usually by writing
open letter
An open letter is a Letter (message), letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally.
Open letters usually take the form of a letter (mess ...
s in defense of
Croatian language
Croatian (; ) is the standard language, standardised Variety (linguistics)#Standard varieties, variety of the Serbo-Croatian pluricentric language mainly used by Croats. It is the national official language and literary standard of Croatia, o ...
, or
civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...
of individual writers. In 1990 the original name of the Association was restored.
In 2002 several former members, dissatisfied with the state of the association, founded the
Croatian Association of Writers (''Hrvatsko društvo pisaca'').
The first president of the new association, Velimir Visković, explains the necessity of secession by the dominance of the radical right-wing nationalist ideology in the DHK.
Association today
The association has regional chapters in
Pula
Pula, also known as Pola, is the largest city in Istria County, west Croatia, and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, seventh-largest city in the country, situated at the southern tip of the Istria, Istrian peninsula in western Croatia, wi ...
,
Rijeka
Rijeka (;
Fiume ( fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman dialect, Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Ba ...
,
Zadar
Zadar ( , ), historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian, ; see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Croatia. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar ...
,
Split,
Osijek
Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...
and
Čakovec
Čakovec (; ; ; ) is a city in Northern Croatia, located around north of Zagreb, the Croatian capital, and close to the borders with Slovenia and Hungary. Čakovec is both the county seat and the largest city of Međimurje County, the northernmo ...
. It issues several magazines: Bridge (''Most''), Republic (''Republika'') and ''Korabljica''. The series Contemporary Croatian Writers has been renewed under the name Library of the Croatian Writers' Association (''Knjižnica Društva hrvatskih književnika''). Several literary awards have been established.
Presidents
*
Stjepan Miletić
*
Natko Nodilo
*
Ksaver Šandor Gjalski
Ljubomil Tito Josip Franjo Babić, better known by his pen name Ksaver Šandor Gjalski, (also cited as Đalski, both ; 26 October 1854 – 6 February 1935) was a Croatian novelist and civil servant.
Biography
He was born in Gredice near Zabo ...
(twice)
*
Nikola Andrić (twice)
*
Branimir Livadić
*
Mihovil Nikolić
*
Milutin Cihlar Nehajev
*
Milivoj Dežman
*
Stjepan Trontl
*
Franjo Fancev
*
Ilija Jakovljević
*
Mile Budak
* Luka Perković (1945–1948)
*
Slavko Kolar (1948–1952)
*
Ivan Dončević (1952)
*
Petar Šegedin (1953, 1968–1970)
*
Mirko Božić (1954, 1959–1960)
*
Miroslav Feldman (1955)
*
Vjekoslav Kaleb (1956)
*
Marijan Matković (1957–1958)
*
Jure Kaštelan (1961)
*
Dobriša Cesarić (1962)
*
Dragutin Tadijanović (1963)
*
Gustav Krklec (1964, 1974–1976)
*
Vlatko Pavletić (1965–1968)
*
Ivo Frangeš (1970–1972)
*
Jure Franičević-Pločar (1972–1974)
*
Josip Barković (1976–1977)
*
Milivoj Slaviček (1978–1979)
*
Šime Vučetić (1980–1981)
*
Pero Budak (1982–1984)
*
Marija Peakić Mikuljan (1985–1989)
*
Nedjeljko Fabrio (1989–1995)
*
Ante Stamać (1995–1999)
*
Slavko Mihalić (1999–2005)
*
Stjepan Čuić (2005–2008)
*
Borben Vladović (2008–2011)
*
Božidar Petrač (2011–2017)
*
Zlatko Krilić (2020–2023)
*
Hrvojka Mihanović Salopek (2023-)
See also
*
Association of Writers of Yugoslavia
References
{{Authority control
Croatian language
Cultural organizations based in Croatia
1900 establishments in Croatia
Arts organizations established in 1900