PAVČEK Tone
PAVČEK Tone (29.IX.1928, Šentjurij na Dolenjskem - 21.X.2011, Ljubljana) was a Slovenian poet, essayist, translator and editor. He graduated from high school in Ljubljana, graduated from law school and graduated in 1954, but never did law practice. From 1955 to 1957 he was a journalist at the Ljubljanski dnevnik (Ljubljana Daily) and the Ljudska pravica (Human Rights), and until 1972 he was a journalist and editor at the Radio Television Slovenia. From 1963 to 1967 he was the director of the Mladinsko gledališče Ljubljana (Ljubljana Youth Theater). From 1972 until his retirement in 1990 he was the editor-in-chief of the Cankarjeva založba (Cankar Publishing House). From 1979 to 1983 he was also the president of the Slovenian Writers' Association. From 1986 to 1990 he was a member of the Slovenian Assembly and read the May Declaration - the first public document demanding Slovenia's independence from Yugoslavia - at a mass meeting at the Ljubljana Congress Square in 1989.
In 1996, UNICEF named him one of its ambassadors. He received the Prešeren Award in 1984 and in 2009 the Golden Order of Merit of the Republic of Slovenia. Since 2001 he has been an extraordinary member and since 2007 a full member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SAZU).
From his first published poems in Pesmi štirih / Song of Four (1953) to the last pages of Angeli / Angels book (2012), his poetry is intertwined with vitalism and a positive attitude towards life. His poetry for children gained a wide audience because of his original fairy-tale motifs, which included fantasy and folk elements. Especially important are his translations of Russian literature, as well as translations from Albanian, Belarusian, Georgian, Serbo-Croatian and other Slavic languages. He has written more than 20 works for children, the most successful of which is Juri Muri v Afriki / Juri Muri in Africa (1958). The collection Majnice: fulaste pesmi / May Songs: Full Songs (1996) is designed in the modern teenage spirit and speech. His most famous poems have also been translated into foreign languages (English, Azerbaijani, Czech, Georgian, Russian, Croatian, Macedonian and Serbian).