Slovenia
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                                                    Škrgulja, Vida Pust Vida Pust Škrgulja 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 češnjaksnowy 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 vinaswallows 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 ribalighted 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 bržemorning train 
 climbing the snowy ladder
 faster and faster(Award (third choice), WHC R. H. Blyth Award, 2002) dječji se smijeh 
 uvukao
 u gitaru na ziduthe 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 vrpcaat 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 vinaat 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 svjetlostarless night 
 in one of the windows
 flickering candle-light(Shamrock, Issue 6, Focus on Croatia, 2009) umor večeri 
 rasplinu se pogledom...
 zvjezdano neboevening 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 blagoin 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 darovea 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. 
