Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić

The recorded working language is Croatian. The field of work recorded is poetry. Hans Christian Andersen is recorded as an influence. Works named in the authority record are The Brave Adventures of Lapitch, Croatian Tales of Long Ago and Stribor's Forest. Distinctions recorded are star on Croatian Walk of Fame.

• Name — Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić • Birth Name — Ivana Mažuranić • Born — 18 April 1874 • Birthplace — Ogulin, Croatian Military Frontier, Austria-Hungary (modern-day Ogulin, Croatia) • Died — 21 September 1938 • Place of death — Zagreb, Sava Banovina, Kingdom of Yugoslavia (modern-day Zagreb, Croatia) • Occupation — Novelist, short story writer, fairy tales writer • Language — Croatian • Citizenship — Austria-Hungary, Kingdom of Yugoslavia • Period — 1902–1937 • Notable Works — The Brave Adventures of Lapitch, Croatian Tales of Long Ago • Relatives — Ivan Mažuranić (grandfather) Vladimir Mažuranić (father)

She was born on 18 April 1874 in Ogulin into a well-known Croatian family of Mažuranić. Her father Vladimir Mažuranić was a writer, lawyer and historian who wrote Prinosi za hrvatski pravno-povjestni rječnik (Croatian dictionary for history and law) in 1882. Her grandfather was a politician, the Ban of Croatia and poet Ivan Mažuranić, while her grandmother Aleksandra Demeter was the sister of well-known writer and one of keypersons of Croatian national revival movement, Dimitrija Demeter. Ivana was largely home-schooled. With the family she moved first to Karlovac, then to Jastrebarsko, and ultimately to Zagreb. Upon marriage to Vatroslav Brlić, a politician and a prominent lawyer in 1892, she moved to Brod na Savi (today Slavonski Brod) where she entered another known family and lived there for most of her life. She became the mother of seven children and devoted all her work to her family and education. Her first literary creations were initially written in French.

Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić started writing poetry, diaries and essays rather early, but her works were not published until the beginning of the 20th century. Her stories and articles, like the series of educational articles under the name School and Holidays, started to be published more regularly in the journals after 1903. It was in 1913 when her book The Marvelous Adventures and Misadventures of Hlapić the Apprentice (also known as The Brave Adventures of Lapitch and Čudnovate zgode šegrta Hlapića) was published that really caught the literary public's eye. In the story, the poor apprentice Hlapić accidentally finds his master's lost daughter as his luck turns for the better. Her book Croatian Tales of Long Ago (Priče iz davnine), published in 1916, is among the most popular today. Mažuranić created a series of new fairy-tales, but using names and motifs from the Slavic mythology of Croats. It was this that earned her comparisons to Hans Christian Andersen and Tolkien, who also wrote novel stories based in some elements of real mythology. • Illustration — Gravestone of Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić at the Mirogoj Cemetery in Zagreb Brlić-Mažuranić was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature four times – in 1931 and 1935 by the historian Gabriel Manojlović, and in 1937 and 1938 by him and the philosopher Albert Bazala, both based in Zagreb. In 1937 she also became the first woman accepted as a Corresponding Member into the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts. She was awarded Order of Saint Sava. After a long battle with depression, she committed suicide on 21 September 1938 in Zagreb. She is buried at Mirogoj Cemetery in Zagreb.

• Illustration — Brlić-Mažuranić in her later years • 1902 The Good and the Mischievous (Valjani i nevaljani) • 1905 School and Holidays (Škola i praznici) • 1912 Pictures (poetry) (Slike) • 1913 The Brave Adventures of Lapitch (Čudnovate zgode šegrta Hlapića) • 1916 Croatian Tales of Long Ago (Priče iz davnine) • 1923 A Book for Youth (Knjige o omladini) • 1935 From the Archives of Family Brlić in Brod na Savi (Iz arhive obitelji Brlić u Brodu na Savi) • 1937 Jaša Dalmatin Viceroy of the Gujarati (Jaša Dalmatin, potkralj Gudžarata) • 1939 Gingerbread Heart (Srce od licitara) • 1943 Fables and Fairy-tales (Basne i bajke)

Her books of novels and fairy tales for children, originally intended to educate her own, have been translated into nearly all European languages. Highly regarded and valued by both national and foreign literary critics, she obtained the title of Croatian Andersen. The Marvelous Adventures and Misadventures of Hlapić the Apprentice was translated, among other languages, into Bengali (by Dr. Probal Dashgupta), Hindi, Chinese (by Shi Cheng Tai), Vietnamese (a few chapters), Turkish, Japanese (by Sekoguchi Ken) and Parsi (by Achtar Etemadi). Most of the latter translations were made indirectly, through Esperantists. The book's most recent Esperanto translation is by Maja Tišljar, with significant contributions by Spomenka Štimec.

The authorities additionally record the heading Ivana Brlic-Mazuranic. Her recorded language was Croatian. She was the child of Vladimir Mažuranić. Other recorded relations include Ivan Mažuranić.