Ljubka Šorli

19. 2. 1910 – 30. 4. 1993
Ljubka Šorli was a poet and cultural mediator. In her poems, she praised the Gorizia landscape, historical events, her love for her husband, and religious themes. She wrote many sonnets and a sonnet wreath.

Born in Tolmin in 1910, Ljubka Šorli started primary school in Jesenice as a refugee of World War I. When she returned to her home town she completed the citizen school and went on to study at the school of commerce in Gorizia, where she also learned to play the violin under prof. Rodolfo Lipizer. After graduating from high school she returned to Tolmin and joined different illegal youth associations. She played the first violin in the Tolmin orchestra and a mandolin in a tamburitza orchestra. She organised a girls’ choir and trained them as their choir mistress. In 1933 she married composer Lojze Bratuž and moved to Gorizia, where their daughter Lojzka and son Andrej were born. This was the time of the most brutal fascist aggression against the Slovenian people, which in the first place targeted the nation’s most prominent figures. At the beginning of 1937 Lojže Bratuž himself fell victim to political violence (he was poisoned with motor oil), leaving Ljubka a very young widow.

During the war that ensued, Ljubka too was arrested, tortured, and held imprisoned in the Italian concentration camp in Poggio Terza Armata (Slov. Zdravščina). Her situation improved after the war. She found her true calling when she qualified in Gorizia as a teacher, but the new circumstances also allowed her to unleash the creative impulse for poetry that she had nurtured already as a child.

Her first book (self-published), a crown of sonnets Venec spominčic možu na grob (A wreath of forget-me-nots for my husband’s grave), was published in 1957. Ljubka Šorli published her poems in cross-border magazines and calendars as well as in Carinthia and Argentina. In addition to poems she enjoyed writing scenes for her lessons at school and cooperated with a Slovenian radio station in Trieste for the Radio for Schools programme. In 1973, the Gorizia-based Mohorjeva družba published her poetry book Izbrane pesmi (Selected poems; edited by Marijan Brecelj) and in 1983 a poetry book for children Veseli ringaraja (Merry Ring a Ring o’Roses). In 1987, the publishing house Založništvo tržaškega tiska published the poetry book Pod obokom čarobnim (Under the enchanted vault), edited by France Bernik. In 1985, her hometown of Tolmin marked her 75th anniversary with a bibliophile edition of Tolmin poems Rumeni ko zlato so zdaj kostanji (Now yellow as gold are the chestnuts). This selection later developed into an extensive poetry book Tolminske pesmi (Tolmin poems), which was edited by Marijan Brecelj and published by Mohorjeva družba Gorizia to commemorate the tenth anniversary of her death (2003). In 1994, a year after her death, the Braitan publishing house published the poetry book Canti spezzati with a foreword by Friulian poet Celso Macor; the poems were translated by Diomira Fabjan Bajc. The same year saw the publication of poetry books Križev pot (Stations of the Cross) and Via Crucis (translated by Marija Kacin). Ljubka’s nephew Igor Tuta edited and published two of her poetry books with ART publishing house, namely Goriške pesmi (Gorica poems, 2018) and Rožni venec (Rosary, 2020). The album of children’s poems from the family heirloom, Pesmice z razglednice (Postcard poems), was published by the same publisher in 2024.

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Lokacije

The Commercial House, Corso Giuseppe Verdi 52 / Verdijev korzo 52, a house on Ugo Foscolo Street 16; Erjavčeva Street in Nova Gorica.

Ljubka Šorli

19. 2. 1910 – 30. 4. 1993
ljubka-sorli-notranja
Ljubka Šorli was a poet and cultural mediator. In her poems, she praised the Gorizia landscape, historical events, her love for her husband, and religious themes. She wrote many sonnets and a sonnet wreath.

Born in Tolmin in 1910, Ljubka Šorli started primary school in Jesenice as a refugee of World War I. When she returned to her home town she completed the citizen school and went on to study at the school of commerce in Gorizia, where she also learned to play the violin under prof. Rodolfo Lipizer. After graduating from high school she returned to Tolmin and joined different illegal youth associations. She played the first violin in the Tolmin orchestra and a mandolin in a tamburitza orchestra. She organised a girls’ choir and trained them as their choir mistress. In 1933 she married composer Lojze Bratuž and moved to Gorizia, where their daughter Lojzka and son Andrej were born. This was the time of the most brutal fascist aggression against the Slovenian people, which in the first place targeted the nation’s most prominent figures. At the beginning of 1937 Lojže Bratuž himself fell victim to political violence (he was poisoned with motor oil), leaving Ljubka a very young widow.

During the war that ensued, Ljubka too was arrested, tortured, and held imprisoned in the Italian concentration camp in Poggio Terza Armata (Slov. Zdravščina). Her situation improved after the war. She found her true calling when she qualified in Gorizia as a teacher, but the new circumstances also allowed her to unleash the creative impulse for poetry that she had nurtured already as a child.

Her first book (self-published), a crown of sonnets Venec spominčic možu na grob (A wreath of forget-me-nots for my husband’s grave), was published in 1957. Ljubka Šorli published her poems in cross-border magazines and calendars as well as in Carinthia and Argentina. In addition to poems she enjoyed writing scenes for her lessons at school and cooperated with a Slovenian radio station in Trieste for the Radio for Schools programme. In 1973, the Gorizia-based Mohorjeva družba published her poetry book Izbrane pesmi (Selected poems; edited by Marijan Brecelj) and in 1983 a poetry book for children Veseli ringaraja (Merry Ring a Ring o’Roses). In 1987, the publishing house Založništvo tržaškega tiska published the poetry book Pod obokom čarobnim (Under the enchanted vault), edited by France Bernik. In 1985, her hometown of Tolmin marked her 75th anniversary with a bibliophile edition of Tolmin poems Rumeni ko zlato so zdaj kostanji (Now yellow as gold are the chestnuts). This selection later developed into an extensive poetry book Tolminske pesmi (Tolmin poems), which was edited by Marijan Brecelj and published by Mohorjeva družba Gorizia to commemorate the tenth anniversary of her death (2003). In 1994, a year after her death, the Braitan publishing house published the poetry book Canti spezzati with a foreword by Friulian poet Celso Macor; the poems were translated by Diomira Fabjan Bajc. The same year saw the publication of poetry books Križev pot (Stations of the Cross) and Via Crucis (translated by Marija Kacin). Ljubka’s nephew Igor Tuta edited and published two of her poetry books with ART publishing house, namely Goriške pesmi (Gorica poems, 2018) and Rožni venec (Rosary, 2020). The album of children’s poems from the family heirloom, Pesmice z razglednice (Postcard poems), was published by the same publisher in 2024.

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