Josip Vandot

Infobox Writer
name = Josip Vandot


caption =
birth_date = birth date|1884|1|15
birth_place = Kranjska Gora
death_date = death date|1944|7|11
death_place = Trnjavska Kuta, Croatia
occupation = Writer
nationality = Slovene
spouse =
genre =
movement =
notableworks =
awards =
influences =
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website =
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Josip Vandot (15 January, 1884 - 11 June, 1944) was a Slovene writer and poet who wrote mainly for young readers.

Biography

Vandot was born in Kranjska Gora (called "Borovška vas" at the time) in Upper Carniola, then part of Austria-Hungary, now in Slovenia. Under the interwar Kingdom of Yugoslavia, he was employed as a railway official in Maribor, from where he was exiled to Croatia by the occupying German forces in 1941. He was killed in the bombing of Slavonski Brod in 1944 [Helga Glušič, "Sto Slovenskih Pripovednikov" (Ljubljana: Prešernova družba, 1996) ISBN 961-6186-21-3] .

Work

Vandot is most famous for the creation of the character Kekec, a brave and clever shepherd boy from the highlands of his home region, the Karavanke and Julian Alps. He wrote three books with Kekec as the main character:

* "Kekec na hudi poti" ("Kekec on the Hard Path," 1918)
* "Kekec na volčji sledi" ("Kekec on the Wolves' Track," 1922)
* "Kekec nad samotnim breznom" ("Kekec Above the Lonely Abyss," 1924)

The Kekec books were also the inspiration for three films about the character (though not corresponding exactly to the three books.)
* Kekec (1951) [*imdb title|id=0043703|title=Kekec]
* Srečno, Kekec (1963) [*imdb title|id=0057525|title=Srečno, Kekec] ("Good Luck, Kekec") - the first Slovene colour film
* Kekčeve ukane (1968) ) [*imdb title|id=0063177|title=Kekčeve ukane] ("Kekec's Trickeries")

References