The round table will discuss the literary, medical and diplomatic work of Drago Štambuk, his childhood on the island of Brač and in the city of Split, his education, work
The 14th Croatica Abroad round table, to be held at the National and University Library on the afternoon of the 5th of May will discuss the literary, medical and diplomatic work of Drago Štambuk, his childhood on the island of Brač and in the city of Split, his education, work and life abroad, in countries in which he served as an ambassador and the friends he made along the way, the books published abroad and the golden ča-kaj-što formula of the Croatian language that has been celebrated for 25 years now at the Croatia Rediviva Ča-Kaj-Što review held on his native island. The round table will be moderated by Željka Lovrenčić PhD.
Physician, poet, essay writer and diplomat Drago Štambuk was born on the 20th of September 1950 in Selca on the island of Brač. He attended secondary school in Split and the School of Medicine at the University of Zagreb where, graduating magna cum laude, he specialised in internal medicine, with a sub-specialisation in gastroenterology and hepatology.
He lived and worked in London from 1983 where he also conducted research in liver disease and kopnica (his term for AIDS) and cared for the sick.
In the mid 1980s he dedicated his efforts to promoting the facts concerning the aggressive war being prepared against Croatia. In the sensitive period from 1991 to 1994 he was the first accredited representative of the Republic of Croatia in Great Britain.
From 1995 to 1998 he served as ambassador to India and Sir Lanka, and from 1998 to 2000 to Egypt and a large number of Arab countries. From 2005 to 2010 he was our ambassador to Japan and Korea and from 2011 to Brazil, Columbia and Venezuela. He was at Harvard University from 2001 to 2002 studying ethics and international affairs, the relationship of law and power and principles and interests in the process of adopting political decisions.
He has published over fifty books of poetry, anthologies, translations, linguistic dictionaries and reviews. Critics consider him a global and homeland poet and one of our major contemporary poets. His work has been translated into a number of languages and has been the subject of writings by leading writers such as Tess Gallagher, Antonio Skármeta, Stephen Greenblatt, Rifa’at Sallam, Raymond Carver, Kazuko Shiraishi, Edwar Al-Kharrat, Luiz Antonio de Assis Brasil and others.
In his native Selca he in 1991 founded the famed all-Croatian language and poetry review Croatia Rediviva Ča-Kaj-Što, which gives equal standing to the work of poets writing in the Čakavian, Kajkavian and Štokavian variants of the Croatian language. Every event one poet is awarded an olive wreath (the poeta oliveatus) and his or her poem is carved into the marble Wall of Poetry. Every five years Štambuk collects the best works of five oliveata poets in an anthological collection under the title of Olive Wreath, including his introductory speech and additional texts and reviews of the events. The Croatia Rediviva Ča-Kaj-Što event is based on the idea of the triune nature of the Croatian language which its founder has for some thirty years promoted and referred to as its golden ča-kaj-što formula.
Drago Štambuk is also known as a translator of medical terminology into Croatian and the creation of terminology for medical terms that have only previously been used in Croatian as loan words.
Physician, poet, essay writer and diplomat Drago Štambuk was born on the 20th of September 1950 in Selca on the island of Brač. He attended secondary school in Split and the School of Medicine at the University of Zagreb where, graduating magna cum laude, he specialised in internal medicine, with a sub-specialisation in gastroenterology and hepatology.
He lived and worked in London from 1983 where he also conducted research in liver disease and kopnica (his term for AIDS) and cared for the sick.
In the mid 1980s he dedicated his efforts to promoting the facts concerning the aggressive war being prepared against Croatia. In the sensitive period from 1991 to 1994 he was the first accredited representative of the Republic of Croatia in Great Britain.
From 1995 to 1998 he served as ambassador to India and Sir Lanka, and from 1998 to 2000 to Egypt and a large number of Arab countries. From 2005 to 2010 he was our ambassador to Japan and Korea and from 2011 to Brazil, Columbia and Venezuela. He was at Harvard University from 2001 to 2002 studying ethics and international affairs, the relationship of law and power and principles and interests in the process of adopting political decisions.
He has published over fifty books of poetry, anthologies, translations, linguistic dictionaries and reviews. Critics consider him a global and homeland poet and one of our major contemporary poets. His work has been translated into a number of languages and has been the subject of writings by leading writers such as Tess Gallagher, Antonio Skármeta, Stephen Greenblatt, Rifa’at Sallam, Raymond Carver, Kazuko Shiraishi, Edwar Al-Kharrat, Luiz Antonio de Assis Brasil and others.
In his native Selca he in 1991 founded the famed all-Croatian language and poetry review Croatia Rediviva Ča-Kaj-Što, which gives equal standing to the work of poets writing in the Čakavian, Kajkavian and Štokavian variants of the Croatian language. Every event one poet is awarded an olive wreath (the poeta oliveatus) and his or her poem is carved into the marble Wall of Poetry. Every five years Štambuk collects the best works of five oliveata poets in an anthological collection under the title of Olive Wreath, including his introductory speech and additional texts and reviews of the events. The Croatia Rediviva Ča-Kaj-Što event is based on the idea of the triune nature of the Croatian language which its founder has for some thirty years promoted and referred to as its golden ča-kaj-što formula.
Drago Štambuk is also known as a translator of medical terminology into Croatian and the creation of terminology for medical terms that have only previously been used in Croatian as loan words.