KUNTNER Tone

KUNTNER Tone (b. 13 May 1943, Trate, Municipality of Šentilj, Styria), Slovenian poet and theatre actor.

Tone Kuntner was born into a large farming family in Trate in the Slovenske gorice region. The family later moved to Bistrica ob Dravi. After completing classical grammar school in Maribor, he graduated in 1968 from the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television (AGRFT) in Ljubljana. In 1969 he became a member of the Ljubljana City Theatre (MGL). Later he taught artistic speech at AGRFT as an associate professor. In shaping typified characters, he developed a distinctly personal, analytical and deeply internalized approach to character acting. In the 1980s he performed numerous leading roles in the MGL repertoire. He has also appeared in films and television productions.

In 1966 he published his first poetry collection, Vsakdanji kruh (Daily Bread). His poetic world features images of contradictions and peculiarities of everyday rural life, with a particular emphasis on the striving for a primordial harmony with nature. He also writes love poetry and veristic socio-critical poems. In 2014 he received the Golden Coin of Poetry for his extensive poetic oeuvre and his valuable contribution to Slovenian literature and culture.