writers

Renato Baretić

Renato Baretić is a journalist and writer, who has been earning a living exclusively through writing since 1983;

He works periodically as a film and TV scriptwriter (film “Što je muškarac bez brkova” ("What's a Man Without a Mustache"), TV series “Novo doba” ("New Age"), copywriter, author of questions for the most popular TV quiz shows (“Kviskoteka”, the Croatian version of “Who wants to be a millionaire?”, etc);

Working as a journalist, he experienced the entire path of development, from his beginnings in the section for local news, to reporter, TV-critic and political columnist, in many majobr Croatian newspapers (Večernji list, Nedjeljna Dalmacija, Slobodna Dalmacija, Feral Tribune, Globus, Nacional, etc.); since 2012, without a full-time engagement.

He is the co-founder and, since 2007, art director of the popular story-telling festival “Pričigin” in Split;

He is a member of the Croatian Journalists’ Association (“Hrvatsko novinarsko društvo”), the Croatian PEN Centre and the Croatian Writers Society (“Hrvatsko društvo pisaca”), and of the cultural associations “Pričigin”, “Kurs” and “Bookvica”; he used to be a member of the Croatian branch of Mensa (IQ 153), but was excluded due to regular non-payment of the membership subscription; used to be active as a leader of the movement for a cultural revival of the Croatian islands “Otoče, volim te” until its self-abolishment after the death of Zoran Franičević;

He's married to Maja, and the father of two children, Katarina and Jakov;

He initially studied Political Science and afterwards Comparative Literature and Phonetics at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences a the University of Zagreb, where he submitted an outline for his graduation thesis from the field of Stylistics (entitled “Autopoiesis of Ivan Slamnig”), but never wrote it; he was accepted to the Faculty of Political Sciences, Journalism Studies, but abandoned the program soon after paying tuition and completing several exams;

Baretić has held various jobs including warehouse assistant, assistant repairman of household appliances, assistant tile-layer, sales agent, street stall seller and worker in a textile machine factory;

He attended one-month long literary residency programmes in Belgium (Volezelle, 2007), Austria (Graz, 2009) and Turkey (Istanbul, 2012);

He has active knowledge of English; rather good knowledge of German; passive knowledge of Italian, French, Slovenian and Macedonian;

His hobbies include: amateur playing and collecting of percussion instruments, amateur sailing, amateur photography;

He was born in 1963 in Zagreb and has been a permanent resident of Split since 1996.

PUBLISHED BOOKS:

“Hotel Grand”, novel, published by Algoritam, Zagreb, 2008 (finalist for the literary prize competitions of the Book Fair in Pula, Jutarnji list and T-Portal for the corresponding year); translated and published in Ukraine, Slovenia, Macedonia and Albania, and published in the original in Serbia;

“Pričaj mi o njoj”(Talk to Me about Her), novel, published by AGM Zagreb, 2006 (semi-finalist for the literary prize competition of Jutarnji list for the corresponding year); translated and published in Ukraine, looking for a publisher in Italy;

“Kome ćemo slati razglednice” (To Whom Shall We Send Our Postcards), collected poems, published by AGM Zagreb, 2005

“Kadrovi kadra” (Frames of a Frame), a selection of newspaper columns on politics on TV and on TV in general, AGM Zagreb, 2005

“Osmi povjerenik” (The Eighth Commissioner), novel, AGM Zagreb, 2003 (the novel won five major national prizes for fiction in 2003, and was adapted forthe  theatre by the Croatian National Theatre in Split in 2006); so far, it has sold more than 17,000 copies in Croatia alone; the book has been translated and published in Ukraine, Macedonia, Slovenia and Germany; published in the original in Serbia; the film rights are fully owned by the “Olimp produkcija” company;

“Riječi iz džepova” (Words from Pockets), collected poems, published by „Biblioteka Feral Tribune“, Split, 1998;

participated with works of fiction and essays in a dozen collections of papers and literary works in Croatian and other languages;

individual poems, short stories and fiction fragments translated and published also in English, Slovenian, German, Macedonian, Polish, Italian and Ukrainian;

solo exhibition of photography “Brodske linije” (Boat Lines) put on in galleries in Split (2008), Zagreb (2009) and Graz, Austria (2009).

e-mail renato.baretic@st.t-com.hr and renato.baretic@gmail.com