Vida Pust Škrgulja
(1952 - 2021)
Vida Pust Škrgulja was born in Ljubljana, Slovenia in 1952. She graduated in Latin and History of Art from the Department of Philosophy at University of Zagreb, and spent her working years as a teacher of Latin and Arts in high schools in the towns of Ivanić-Grad and Križ, Croatia. Beside her teaching career and family, being a mother of four daughters, she spent her time on a number of activities, promoting arts and culture. By founding the association Amici hereditatis (Prijatelji baštine; Friends of heritage) in Ivanić-Grad, she started the process of founding the first museum in this town and was its first director. Through the decades she set up a number of exhibitions for local artists.
Škrgulja started writing haiku in the 1970s and was among the first haijin in Ivanić-Grad.
In 2003 together with Djurdja Vukelić Rožić and Stepan Rožić they inaugurated the Kloštar Ivanić Haiku Meetings (Kloštar Ivanić haiku susreti) and later in 2006 also founded the Haiku Association “Three Rivers” in Ivanić-Grad. Vida Pust Škrgulja was on the editorial board of the magazine IRIS and a judge for haiku and haiga contests. She wrote haiku in Croatian, Slovenian, Latin and English, and her work was featured in numerous miscellanies, anthologies and journals in Croatia, Slovenia, United Kingdom, USA and Japan. She has won several national and international awards as well. Vida Pust Škrgulja was bestowed Lifetime Achievement Award by the town of Ivanić-Grad in 2007. She died in Ivanić-Grad, Croatia in 2021.
Book published:
Sedam prozora / Seven Windows by Vida Pust-Škrgulja, Ljerka Poštek-Jelača, Djurdja-Vukelić Rožić, Marica Behtan-Cecelja, Franko Bušić, Stjepan Rožić and Robert Stipić. Ed. by Djurdja Vukelić Rožić, Kloštar Ivanić, Croatia: Agapa, 2002.
Some awards and honours:
- Encouragement Award, Ito-En, International Haiku Contest, Tokyo, Japan, 1997;
- Third Prize, The International Kusamakura Haiku Competition, Japan, 2000;
- Award (third choice), WHC R. H. Blyth Award, 2002;
- Lifetime Achievement Award by the town of Ivanić-Grad, 2007.
Selected works:
snježno jutro
u košari na polici
proklijao češnjak
snowy morning
in the basket on the shell
the garlic has sprouted
(Encouragement Award, Ito-En, International Haiku Contest, Tokyo, Japan, 1997)
lastavice lete
nad ljetnom kućicom
uhvaćenom u čaši vina
swallows fly
above the summer house
caught in a glass of wine
(Third Prize, The International Kusamakura Haiku Competition, Japan, 2000)
obasjano suncem
na plavome dnu ̶ stablo
uz jato riba
lighted by the sun
on the blue bottom ̶ a tree trunk
among fish
(Letni časi haiku magazine No. 16, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2002)
jutarnji vlak
snježnim se ljestvama penje
sve brže i brže
morning train
climbing the snowy ladder
faster and faster
(Award (third choice), WHC R. H. Blyth Award, 2002)
dječji se smijeh
uvukao
u gitaru na zidu
the children's laugh
crept into
the guitar on the wall
(Sedam prozora/Seven Windows, joint haiku collection, Ivanić-Grad, Croatia, 2002)
na dnu škrinje
svežanj pisama i
svilena vrpca
at the bottom of the chest
a bundle of letters and
a silk ribbon
(Blithe Spirit Vol 14 No 3, September 2004)
na dnu srebrne čaše
u staretinarnici
tragovi crnog vina
at the bottom of a silver cup
in an antique shop
stains of red wine
(World Haiku 2006 No 2, WHA Japan)
noć bez zvijezda
u jednom prozoru
treperi svjetlo
starless night
in one of the windows
flickering candle-light
(Shamrock, Issue 6, Focus on Croatia, 2009)
umor večeri
rasplinu se pogledom...
zvjezdano nebo
evening fatigue
scattered in the gaze ...
a starry sky
(To the memory of Vladimir Devidé, the Kloštar Ivanić Joint Haiku Collection, Croatia, 2011)
stara singerica
u ladici unuk sakrio
svoje blago
in the drawer of
an old sewing machine
my grandson's treasure
(Igračke/Toys, post contest anthology, the Haiku Association „Three Rivers“, Ivanić-Grad, Croatia, 2017)
starac, drščući
u vrećama otpada
traži darove
a trembling old man
in search of Christmas gifts
through the bags with waste
(IRIS No. 11, the Haiku Association „Three Rivers, Ivanić-Grad, Croatia 2017)
Haiku translated by the author.
Sources:
- Anthologies Nepokošeno nebo/An Unmown Sky 1 and 2, Croatia, 2011 and 2018
- IRIS International, Year 7th, No.7, 2021, Ivanić-Grad, Croatia
https://www.centarkulture.com/vida-pust-skrgulja/
http://www.worldhaiku.net/poetry/si/v.pust.skrglja/v.pust.skrglja.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EE3cAFpXfs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy3yUjkGncM
https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/381501
https://haikupedia.org/article-haikupedia/haiku-in-croatia/
https://tri-rijeke-haiku.hr/?cat=8&lang=en
This profile was created in collaboration with Djurdja Vukelić-Rožić and Zdenko Vanjek, who took the photograph. We appreciate their invaluable help in preparing Vida Pust Škrgulja’s biography.