Meeting with Bronja Žakelj about her book “Whites Wash at Ninety”

27 October 2025, 18.00

We invite you to a meeting with Slovenian writer Bronja Žakelj, author of the novel “Whites Wash at Ninety”. The conversation will be moderated by Prof. Maciej Czerwiński.

The book by Slovenian journalist Bronja Žakelj has become a bestseller in Slovenia, as evidenced not only by its reprints and translations, but also by the film currently being made by director Marko Naberšnik. It is a story about the 1970s and 1980s in Slovenia, about childhood and growing up in the realities of the former Yugoslavia. The author tenderly sketches an autobiographical story that includes both difficult life experiences – illness, loneliness and loss – and humour. Bronja Žakelj traces the absurdities of the era, showing its everyday life from different perspectives. Prof. Maciej Czerwiński (Jagiellonian University) will talk to the author about the construction of the book, the process of its creation and its most important themes.

Consecutive translation: Aleksandra Mrozowska.
Venue: Panoramic Room, 5th floor.

Bronja Žakelj, ‘White Feathers at Ninety’ (SEDNO Academic Publishing House, translated by Joanna Pomorska).

Bronja Žakelj – Slovenian journalist, graduate of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Ljubljana. She is not professionally involved in literature. Her debut autobiographical novel “Whites Wash at Ninety” was published in 2018 and won the Kresnik Award for the best Slovenian novel of the previous year.

Prof. Maciej Czerwiński, PhD – philologist, Croatian studies scholar and historian, professor at the Jagiellonian University, director of the Institute of Slavic Philology at the Jagiellonian University. He specialises in the languages, cultures and literatures of the former Yugoslavia, as well as the borderline between language and literary theory, including issues of historical discourse. Author of the book “Croatia: History, Culture, Ideas”, published by the International Cultural Centre.

Organisers:

Sedno Publishing House

Institute of Slavic Philology, Jagiellonian University

Event partner:

International Cultural Centre in Krakow