Dragutin Tadijanović (4 November 1905 – 27 June 2007) was a

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 poet, and in his native Croatia he is referred to as a "

Bard In Celtic cultures, a bard is an oral repository and professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or chieftain) to commemorate one or more of the patron's a ...

." Tadijanović was born in the village of Rastušje close to

Slavonski Brod Slavonski Brod (, ), commonly shortened to simply Brod, is a city in eastern Croatia, near the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. Being one of the principal cities in the historical regions of Slavonia and Posavina, Slavonski Brod is the 7th lar ...

in the region of

Slavonia Slavonia (; ) is, with Dalmatia, Croatia proper, and Istria County, Istria, one of the four Regions of Croatia, historical regions of Croatia. Located in the Pannonian Plain and taking up the east of the country, it roughly corresponds with f ...

. He published his first poem in 1922. He graduated in literature and philosophy at the

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb (, ) is a public university, public research university in Zagreb, Croatia. It is the largest Croatian university and one of the oldest continuously operating universities in Europe. The University of Zagreb and the Unive ...

in 1937. He worked as the lector of the official paper

Narodne novine ''Narodne novine'' () is the official gazette (or newspaper of public record) of the Republic of Croatia which publishes laws, regulations, appointments and official decisions and releases them in the public domain. It is published by the epon ...

(1935–1940), taught at the Academy of Arts in Zagreb (1939–1945). Later he worked at the publishing houses "Zora" and "Hrvatski pjesnici", and

Matica hrvatska Matica hrvatska () is the oldest independent, non-profit and non-governmental Croatian national institution. It was founded on February 2, 1842 by the Croatian Count Janko Drašković and other prominent members of the Illyrian movement during ...

. He joined the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts's Literary Institute, where he became the director in 1953 and served until his retirement in 1973. He was the president of the Society of Croatian Writers in 1964–1965, and he also became an

academician An academician is a full member of an artistic, literary, engineering, or scientific academy. In many countries, it is an honorific title used to denote a full member of an academy that has a strong influence on national scientific life. Accor ...

of the academy. Tadijanović holds distinction as one of the most popular and most influential Croatian poets of 20th century. His poem ''Balada o zaklanim ovcama'' ("Ballad of Slaughtered Sheep"), written in the 1930s, is one of the most powerful works of

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 ...

. His works were translated into over 20 languages, and he published over 500 poems in some twenty collections. He was crowned by an olive wreath and so became ''poeta oliveatus'' at Croatia rediviva poetry manifestation in Selca on the island of Brač in 2001. His verses are carved at the marble plaque on the Wall of poetry. Before he died at the age of 101, he was among the longest-living writers in Croatian history with generations having to study his poems in school. His last couple of birthdays were marked with reports on national TV, awards and other special events and his commemoration ceremony was held at the Old City Hall on uphill Zagreb attended by the Mayor of Zagreb and other political and cultural officials. His funeral was performed by auxiliary bishop of Zagreb Vlado Košić. An award has been named after him and granted since 2008 by the

Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (; , HAZU) is the national academy of Croatia. HAZU was founded under the patronage of the Croatian bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer under the name Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts (, JAZU) since its ...

(HAZU) for the life achievement in poetry.

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