Mato Lovrak (8 March 1899 - 14 March 1974) was a Croatian children's literature writer.

Biography

Mato Lovrak was born on 8 March 1899 in

Veliki Grđevac Veliki Grđevac (, hu, Nagygordonya) is a municipality in Bjelovar-Bilogora County, Croatia. According to the 2001 census, there are 3,248 inhabitants, 80.41% of which are Croats, in 1,157 of family households. Geography The present municipal ...

. Lovrak finished teacher training college 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, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

and served as teacher in

Kutina Kutina is a town in central Croatia, the largest settlement in the hilly region of Moslavina, in the Sisak-Moslavina County. The town proper has a population of 13,735 (2011), while the total municipal population is 22,760. The settlement of Kuti ...

Veliki Zdenci Veliki Zdenci is a village in Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map ...

and

. Lovrak wrote realistic short stories and novels for children. His most famous works are "'' Vlak u snijegu''" ("A Train in the Snow"), "'' Družba Pere Kvržice''" ("Pero Kvržica's Gang"). Those novels were the basis for two children's movies with the same names. "''Vlak u snijegu''" has been translated into

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

, Hungarian,

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, Czech and

Slovene language Slovene ( or ), or alternatively Slovenian (; or ), is a South Slavic languages, South Slavic language, a sub-branch that is part of the Balto-Slavic languages, Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family ...

. "''Družba Pere Kvržice''" has been translated into

Esperanto Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communi ...

. His works emphasized love for children, the beauty of nature and the pursuit of

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals fu ...

. Lovrak made a great impact on Croatian literature for children and influenced other writers. Mato Lovrak died in Zagreb on 14 March 1974.

Biography

References

Further reading