Mara Švel-Gamiršek, also known as ''Mara Schwell'' (3 January 1900 – 7 December 1975) was Croatian writer from Syrmia. Beside prose, she also wrote

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

Early life and education

Mara Švel-Gamiršek was born in Sremska Mitrovica, Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia,

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

(today

Vojvodina Vojvodina ( sr-Cyrl, Војводина}), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia. It lies within the Pannonian Basin, bordered to the south by the national capital ...

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

), 3 January 1900, in the family of

Šokci Šokci ( sh, / , italics=yes, , ; , ; hu, Sokácok) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to historical regions of Baranya, Bačka, Slavonia and Syrmia. These regions today span eastern Croatia, southwestern Hungary, and northern Serbia ...

Croats The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They are also a recognized minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Austria, the Czech Republic, ...

. She attended the elementary school in Sremska Mitrovica. She continued her education in gymnasium in Sušak, and after that, she went to study medicine. She didn't complete her medical degree as she married.

Career

From 1923, she turned to her literary work. Later, she moved to Zagreb. She began publishing her works in early 1940s, at Matica hrvatska. Already then, her works were drawing attention from readers. Being Šokica herself, she has described the life of Šokci Croats in her books. In wider sense, she belonged to the phenomenon of ''žensko šokačko pismo'' ("female literature of Šokci"). She was the working with magazine

Hrvatska revija ''Hrvatska revija'' ( en, Croatian Review or HR) is a Croatian quarterly published by Matica hrvatska (MH) based in Zagreb. History and profile The magazine's original run lasted between 1928 and 1945 when it was published by MH and during which ...

, publishing some of her poetry in it in 1976.Hrvatska revija
Bibliography

Death and legacy

She died in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Slov ...

, 7 December 1975. The elementary school in Vrbanja, in eastern Croatia, is named after Mara Švel-Gamiršek.

Works

* ''Šuma i Šokci'', 1940 * ''Hrast'', Zagreb, 1942 * ''Portreti nepoznatih žena'', 1942 * ''Priče za Sveu i Karen'', 1967 * ''Legende'', 1969 * ''Izabrana djela'', 1970 * ''Ovim šorom Jagodo'', 1975

References

External links