HOPE
February and March
with the face of a woman...
Spring awakens,
giving birth to light,
new life, and HOPE.
BELIEF
With a carnival celebration,
we send winter off
and drive away the evil from the town.
A tradition of belief,
for healing and comfort.
PRAYER
Forest nymphs
call for spring,
folding their hands
and praying for health
for Mother Earth.
They seek faith in disbelief.
- Zdenka Mlinar
Zagreb, Croatia
Zdenka Mlinar lives and creates in Velika Gorica and Zagreb, writing poetry, prose, reviews, and short texts (miniature lyrics, aphorisms, haiku, etc.). She has published eleven solo poetry collections and is a member of several literary societies and associations. She writes in the Croatian standard language, English, and occasionally ventures into writing in Croatian dialects. Her work is included in the Lexicon of Contemporary Writers from Velika Gorica (2006) and the Turopolje Lexicon (2021). Her works have been published in more than 200 domestic and international anthologies, collections, and journals. For her work, she has received numerous awards, recognitions, commendations, acknowledgments, trophies, and medals.
Her haiku poems are featured in the bilingual anthology of Croatian haiku poetry "Unmown Sky 2" (2008–2018), in the New Anthology "Contemporary Croatian Haiku" (2023), in "Kajkavski Haiku," an anthology of Croatian haiku poetry in the Kajkavian dialect (1977–2023), as well as in two World Gogyoshi anthologies. She is listed in the world register of The Haiku Foundation and has been among the TOP 100 haiku poets in Europe for six consecutive years.
She is proud of her appointments as an ambassador of peace by the Italian Cultural Association "VerbumlandiArt" and the European Institute for Roma Studies and Research, as well as the Association of Roma Writers in Belgrade.
Her three trilingual haiku poetry books are housed in the Croatian Language Laboratory at the University of Tokyo, the Croatian Embassy in Tokyo, and the Japanese Embassy in Croatia. She has also participated in projects such as the creation of the "Hyperpoem," which is included in the Guinness Book of Records, and the Anthem of World Poetry. She is a literary editor and founder of the Zagreb Literary Club "Ilija Kozić Ladin" and the Facebook group of the same name, through which, in honor of the great Croatian and Bosnian poet, she organizes poetry events with her members. Her poems have been translated into several foreign languages, and some have even been set to music. She is also an active participant in many art colonies and other humanitarian engagements.
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