Dinko Telećan was born in 1974 in Zagreb, Croatia. In 1999 graduated with a degree in Philosophy and English language and literature from the University of Zagreb. Studied Sinology at the same university (2016-2019). During the last twenty five years he has been writing poetry, prose and essays as well as translating from English, Spanish, Chinese and Slovenian as a free-lance author.

He has published so far six books of poems (Clashes, 1997; Gardens & Red Phase, 2003; Beyond, 2005; Needlestack, 2011; Until Your Eyes Burn Off, 2017; Sufficient Reasons and Other Poems, 2021; and The Book of Visits, 2023), a metaphysical study titled Freedom and Time (2003), travelogues Lotus, Dust and Poppy (2008) and Asian Suite (2015), a book of essays called The Desert (2009) and a novel Deserter (2013). Selections from his works were translated into Albanian, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Czech, English, Galician, German, Greek, Hungarian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Romanian, Slovakian, Slovenian and Spanish language.

Translated about a hundred books (novels, poetry, plays, scientific books, books of essays and lectures), including authors such as César Aira, Roberto Bolaño, J. L. Borges, Julio Cortázar, Terry Eagleton, Richard Flanagan, J. G. Frazer, Robert Graves, Stephen Greenblatt, J. R. Jiménez, M. Vargas Llosa, Javier Marías, Ernesto Sabato, George Steiner, H. D. Thoreau, Walt Whitman and Xi Chuan, and also edited a number of them.

His poems in English were published in anthologies Poets' Paradise, The Fancy Realm and Poetic Bliss (Guntur, India, 2010–12).

Participated as a screenwriter in the production of the animated film The Tide by Alen Zanjko (2011).

Translates for radio and television programmes as well. Works as an editor in literary publishing and on the Third Programme of the Croatian Radio.

Participated in literary festivals in Jaipur (India, 2009), Užice (Serbia, 2010), Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Canarian Islands, Spain, 2010), Wardha (India, 2011), Zagreb (Verse in the Region, poetry festival, Croatia, 2012), Bijelo polje (Montenegro, 2012), Guntur (India, 2012), Curtea de Argeş (Romania, 2013), Struga (Macedonia, 2013), Lukovdol (“Goran’s Spring, Croatia, 2014), Thessaloniki (Greece, 2014), Thiruvananthapuram (India, 2014), Priština (Polip festival, Kosovo, 2017), Peja (Literary Meetings “Azem Shkreli”, Kosovo, 2017), Chengdu (China, 2018), Bursa (Turkey, 2018), Prague (2018), Xichang (China, 2019) and Druskininkai (Lithuania, 2022). Participated in writers' residency programmes in Pazin (Croatia, April 2013), Tianjin (International Writing Program in Binhai New Area, China, September 2016), Ljubljana (Slovenia, November 2016), Priština (Kosovo, May 2017), Beijing (November/December 2017) and Sofia (June 2019).

Winner of the European Prize for Poetry at the Festival of Poetry in Curtea de Argeş, Romania, in 2013. His novel Deserter won the Krunoslav Sukić Award for the Book of the Year which promotes pacifism, non-violence and human rights (Osijek, 2014). In 2014, at the Writers' Festival in Trivandrum, India, won the Sahitya Shree Honorary Award for his contribution in the field of literature. Won the Gold Camel Award at the 3rd Silk Road Poetry Festival in Xi’an, China, in 2020. He also won various awards for his translations, among them the annual awards of the Croatian Literary Translators' Association for the translation of J. G. Frazer's Golden Bough in 2002 and Robert Graves' Poems Selected by Himself in 2014. Won the Award for the best non-fictional translation at the Sarajevo Literary Fair in 2006 for the translation of Slavoj Žižek's The Ticklish Subject. In 2017 won the annual “Iso Velikanović“ award for the translation of Graves' White Goddess.

From 2004 to 2010 member of the Board of Croatian Literary Translators' Association; he is also a member of Croatian Writers' Society and a former member of Croatian PEN Centre. Serves as the honorary consul of the Republic of Užupis in Zagreb.

 

 

Bibliography – original works (books only)

 

Kreševa (Clashes), Igitur, Zagreb, 1997 (poems)

Vrtovi & Crvena mijena (Gardens & The Red Phase), AGM, Zagreb, 2003 (poems)

(electronic edition on www.elektronickeknjige.com/ telecan_dinko/vrtovi_i_crvena_mijena,      DPKM, Zagreb, 2006, 2015)

Sloboda i vrijeme (Freedom and Time), Naklada Jesenski i Turk, Zagreb, 2003 (a tractate)

Iza (Beyond), AGM, Zagreb, 2005 (poems)

Lotos, prah i mak (Lotus, Dust and Puppy), Naklada Jesenski i Turk, 2008 (travel book)

Pustinja i drugi ne-vremeni ogledi (The Desert and other un-timely essays), Sysprint, Zagreb,    2009 (essays)

Cada oliva és un estel fos, bilingual Catalan – Croatian edition, with Marko Pogačar,     Barcelona, 2010 (poems)

Plast igala (Needlestack), Croatian Writers' Society, Zagreb, 2011 (poems)

Dezerter (Deserter), Algoritam, Zagreb, 2013 (novel)

Azijska suita (Asian Suite), Sandorf, Zagreb, 2015 (travelogue) (EPUB edition 2018)

Dok ti oči ne dogore (Until Your Eyes Burn Off), Fraktura, Zaprešić, 2017 (poems)

Dovoljni razlozi i druge pjesme (Sufficient Reasons and Other Poems), Fraktura, Zaprešić,         2021

Vzbura jazyka, FACE, Bratislava, 2022 (poems in Slovakian translation by P. Havrila)

The Book of Visits, Sandorf, Zagreb, 2023 (poems)

 

 

A selection of the most important published translations (with titles in English):

 

Jorge Luis Borges, This Craft of Verse, Jesenski i Turk, Zagreb 2001

Isabel Allende, A Portrait in Sepia, Vuković & Runjić, Zagreb 2002

James G. Frazer, The Golden Bough, Sion / Jesenski i Turk, Zagreb 2002

Robert McGrath, Martha Peake, Fidas, Zagreb 2003

José Carlos Somoza, The Cave of Ideas, Vuković & Runjić, Zagreb 2003

Richard Flanagan, Gould's Book of Fish, Mirakul, Zagreb 2004

Haruki Murakami, Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, V & R, Zagreb 2005

Ernesto Sabato, The Tunnel, Sysprint, Zagreb 2005

Slavoj Žižek, The Ticklish Subject, Naklada Šahinpašić, Sarajevo 2006

Henry David Thoreau, Walden, or Life in the Woods, DAF, Zagreb 2006

Terry Eagleton, Holy Terror, Jesenski i Turk, Zagreb 2006

Ernesto Sabato, The Angel of Darkness, Sysprint, Zagreb 2006

Ernesto Sabato, On Heroes and Tombs, Sysprint, Zagreb 2007

William Morris, News from Nowhere, DAF, Zagreb 2008

Julio Cortázar, Hopscotch, Pelago, Zagreb 2009

Gerald Martin, Gabriel García Márquez: Life, Sandorf, Zagreb 2009

Julio Cortázar, The Pursuer and Other Stories, Sysprint, Zagreb 2009

Terry Eagleton, Mind, Faith and Revolution, Naklada Ljevak, Zagreb 2010

Stephen Greenblatt, Will in the World, Fraktura, Zaprešić 2010

Roberto Bolaño, 2666 (with T. Tarbuk et al.), Vuković & Runjić, Zagreb 2012

Robert Graves, Homer's Daughter, Sandorf, Zagreb 2012

Robert Graves, Poems Selected by Himself, Sandorf, Zagreb 2014

Roberto Bolaño, The Third Reich, Vuković & Runjić, Zagreb 2014

Juan Gabriel Vásquez, The Sound of Things Falling, Vuković & Runjić, Zagreb 2015

Rafael Chirbes, On the Edge, Vuković & Runjić, Zagreb, 2016

Robert Graves, The White Goddess, Sandorf, Zagreb 2016

Juan Gabriel Vásquez, Reputations, Vuković & Runjić, Zagreb 2017

Javier Marías, Thus Evil Begins, Profil, Zagreb, 2017

Martin Lings, Eleventh Hour, Vuković & Runjić, Zagreb, 2018

Canek Sánchez Guevara, 33 revolutions, Fraktura, Zaprešić, 2018

Mario Vargas Llosa, Five Corners, Vuković & Runjić, Zagreb, 2018

Andrew Scull, Madness in Civilization, Sandorf, Zagreb, 2018

César Aira, An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, Fraktura, Zaprešić, 2018

Walt Whitman, Democratic Vistas, Sandorf, Zagreb, 2018

Jidi Majia, Eagle’s Funeral, Sandorf, Zagreb, 2019

Ali Smith, Autumn, Vuković & Runjić, Zagreb, 2019

George Steiner, After Babel, Mizantrop, Zagreb, 2019

Philip Kapleau, Three Pillars of Zen, Sandorf, Zagreb, 2019

David Szalay, All That Man Is, Sandorf, Zagreb, 2020

Mario Vargas Llosa, Fierce Times, Vuković & Runjić, Zagreb, 2020

Robert Macfarlane, Mountains of Mind, Vuković & Runjić, Zagreb, 2022

Juan Ramón Jiménez, Lyrics of an Atlantis, Matica hrvatska, Zagreb, 2022

Abdulrazak Gurnah, Afterlives, Profil, Zagreb, 2022

Xi Chuan, History in Disguise: Selected Poems, Vuković & Runjić, 2022

Mario Vargas Llosa, The Civilization of the Spectacle, Vuković & Runjić, Zagreb, 2023

Hao Jingfang, Vagabonds, Vuković & Runjić, Zagreb, 2023