Joža Horvat

Joža Horvat studied at Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb. The recorded working language is Croatian. Works named in the authority record are Ciguli Miguli. Distinctions recorded are Order of Labour, Order of the Republic, Vladimir Nazor Award and Grigor Vitez Award.

• Name — Joža Horvat • Pen Name — Joža • Birth Name — Josip Horvat • Born — 10 March 1915 • Birthplace — Kotoriba, Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary • Died — 26 October 2012 • Place of death — Zagreb, Croatia • Occupation — Writer • Period — 1935 • Genre — novele • Notable Works — Ciguli Miguli (1952) Mačak pod šljemom (1962) Besa–brodski dnevnik (1973) Operacija "Stonoga" (1982) Waitapu (1984) Svjedok prolaznosti (2005) • Spouse — Renata Horvat (née Jesensky) • Children — Radovan–Mićo (died 1973) Marko (died 1975) • Relatives — Zlatko Horvat (brother), Helena Horvat, Diana Horvat (grandchildren) • Awards — * Vladimir Nazor Award for lifetime achievement in literature • Order of Danica Hrvatska

Horvat was born in Kotoriba, Međimurje, northern Croatia, at the time in Zala County in Hungary. During World War II he fought in Yugoslav Partisans, which later inspired the novel Mačak pod šljemom (Tomcat under a Helmet, 1962) which had a somewhat ironical view of the partisan movement, adapted both into a feature film and a miniseries. The screenplay Ciguli Miguli (1952), critical of bureaucracy, briefly brought him into disfavour with the Communist party authorities, on which occasion he turned to sailing. In mid-1960s Horvat and his family sailed the world in the sailing yacht Besa, and his travel journal Besa–brodski dnevnik (Besa–Ship's Log, 1973) became a best-seller. The second trip around the world was marked by tragedy: Horvat's older son, who stayed back, died in a traffic accident in 1973, and his younger son drowned in Venezuela in 1975. After a period of deep crisis Horvat published two acclaimed novels inspired by these events, Operacija "Stonoga" (Operation "Centipede", 1982), about a search for a lost island in the Atlantic, and Waitapu (1984), about a Pacific Islander boy who decides to sail across a taboo line. His last work is a memoir titled Svjedok prolaznosti (A Witness to Impermanence, 2005). Horvat attended the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb and served as a secretary of Matica hrvatska.