Dubravka Ugrešić was a Yugoslav, Croatian and Dutch writer best known for her criticism of the nationalism and chauvinism that fractured her native Yugoslavia. Ugrešić attended University of Zagreb and majored in comparative literature and Russian language. After graduating she decided to pursue parallel careers as a scholar working at the university, at the Institute for Theory of Literature and as a writer. Dubravka Ugrešić published multiple novels and short story collections, her novel Stef... moreDubravka Ugrešić was a Yugoslav, Croatian and Dutch writer best known for her criticism of the nationalism and chauvinism that fractured her native Yugoslavia. Ugrešić attended University of Zagreb and majored in comparative literature and Russian language. After graduating she decided to pursue parallel careers as a scholar working at the university, at the Institute for Theory of Literature and as a writer. Dubravka Ugrešić published multiple novels and short story collections, her novel Steffie Speck in the Jaws of Life was so successful so much so that it was adapted into a movie. Fording the Stream of Consciousness received the NIN Award in 1988, the highest literary honor in former Yugoslavia. She also wrote articles on Russian avant-garde literature. Under Franjo Tudjman, President and founder of the post-Yugoslav Croatian state, Croatian state media launched propaganda campaigns against Ugresic, portraying her as a traitor to the nationalist cause. As a result she left Croatia in 1993 and later lived in the US and Amsterdam in the Netherlands. She taught at UNC-Chapel Hill, UCLA, Harvard University, Wesleyan University, and Columbia University. In 1999, she received the Austrian state literature prize and was mentioned as a contender for the Nobel Prize for Literature.
