Nevenka Miklič Perne
- Slovenia -
Nevenka Miklič Perne was born in 1982 in Maribor, where she obtained her high school diploma and studied art education for some years. During her studies in Maribor, she participated in a literary group and gained her first experiences in literary performance and publication. After her third year of study, she switched to painting at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design under the supervision of Professors Gustav Gnamuš and Nadja Zgonik.
She has published three collections of poetry: Ideali (Ideals, 2013), Lisičja vstopnica (The Fox’s Ticket, 2018), Pogovor s stvarmi (Conversation with Objects, 2022). The first and the last collections are accompanied by her own illustrations. She has illustrated four children’s books and one book for adults.
In 2018 she received the gold acknowledgement V zavetju besede (In the Shelter of the Word), awarded by the Slovenian Public Fund for Cultural Activities.
In 2023, her poetry collection Pogovor s stvarmi was nominated for the Veronika Award, Slovenia’s highest poetry prize.
Bibliography
Poetry collections
2013 Ideali (pesmi, risbe), Zavod Droplja, Maribor
2018 Lisičja vstopnica, Založba Litera, Maribor
2022 Pogovor s stvarmi, Kulturni center Maribor
Anthologies
2008 Nova kolekcija: collection of young Maribor poetry, Subkulturni azil, Maribor
2010 Iščem pesem-pa sem v njej: selected poems from poetry tournaments 2001-1010, Založba Pivec
2017 Poetry collection Rokerji pojejo pesnike, Kulturni center Maribor
2020 V zavetju besede: anthology of selected texts by the finalists of the national meetings of adult literary creators 2017-2019
2024 Za robom jezika: anthology of contemporary female poets from Maribor
Excerpts from reviews
Andrej Lutman about the poetry collection Pogovor s stvarmi, November 14, 2022, Radio ARS:
“The commitment to the present is the field, is the thing, is the object and the goal of the address, but what lies between? The answer is as simple as possible: a poem, a painting, an impression. In between also lies the poet’s humility before the magnificence of what he cannot capture with his small or less small art.”
The Veronika Prize jury wrote:
“With delicate and filigree precision and an unforgiving attitude toward the world, the poet draws images that subtly depict the contrasts of life. We are dealing with a quiet, unpretentious and fragile lyrical subject who possesses a highly autonomous voice with the power and acuity to penetrate even the most inaccessible inner landscapes, while boldly addressing questions of her own identity and society.”
The poetry of Nevenka Miklič Perne is characterized by a unique consistency in both the expression and thematic structures that shape her texts. In all three of her poetry collections, the poet starts from the core of existential poetry, focusing on fundamental questions about life. These questions emerge from her subjective existential position and extend outwards, toward the concrete realities and challenges of the modern world. Moreover, her imagery is often based on sketches of mental landscapes that reflect the realities of spaces situated between the natural and the urban and vice versa. Her poems are generally written in shorter forms, which allow Miklič Perne to concisely sharpen her thoughts and reflections or, alternatively, to stage an emotionally charged poetic event. Her poetics approach the analysis of existence with both sensitivity and caution, and her vision of circumstances is frequently tied to fleeting impressions. These often take the form of poetic sentences, ideas, and reflections that are delicately drawn with softness, indeterminacy, and ambiguity. At the same time, her verses are infused with just the right dose of humor when it's needed. As a result, this is poetry that does not deliver final judgments, nor does it convey absolute truths or insights. Instead, it often lingers in the understanding of unique moments, experiences, moods, and emotions, all of which are revealed through carefully chosen poetic imagery. What’s more, her subtle lyrical depictions can also be connected to her background in painting and artistic activities. For instance, two of her collections (Ideals and Conversation with Objects) include her original drawings. These illustrations symbiotically merge with her language, enhancing her poetic expression. As Lučka Zorko Titan observes: “These are seemingly casually sketched, but in reality, carefully designed concepts, that can be described as ‘exploring the mutations of forms within us.’ Finally, it is evident that these works address humanity’s deepest desires, needs, and complexities, as the images resonate with archetypal content and, consequently, evoke an intense emotional response.”
Miklič Perne's debut collection Ideals is marked by a specific internal formal tension and the gradual intensification of poetic narration. The poet draws from abstract, undefined mental and actual landscapes (from nature), that express different tonalities on the spectrum of emotions and atmosphere. As the collection progresses, it moves toward analyzing concrete, mundane, pressing situations that complicate the existence for the poetic subject. There is always a certain contrast at play: if words and expressions of solitude, fear, and anxiety prevail, they are softened by intrusions of hope and bright moments; conversely, joyful experiences are also marked by a shadow of bitterness. The poetic subject seeks some kind of foothold in a constantly changing, unpredictable, and often inexorable world. Frequently, this foothold is found in love and motherhood (though these are not idealized either). It therefore comes as no surprise that her poetry often captures and records tiny moments, as if attempting to find balance and beauty in the now. Furthermore, it seems that her poetic language is her way of understanding and confronting reality, and leaving traces in the world. It can be said that this collection, standing on the threshold of adulthood, examines past and future ideals while considering their weight and value. As Lučka Zorko Titan states: "The various motifs and themes of the collection before us are centered on a cohesive idea of the real world, where ideals (and their dual images) can never be fully realized. The world constantly disrupts them, and life does not flow according to their image. However, whether ideals are realized or not, they always shine through the transparent membrane of our roles and make us alive." Ideals also contains a subtly woven critical note, directed against the neoliberal system, in which individuals struggle for survival and consequently against an increasingly isolated and fragmented society. To quote Zorko Titan again: "We cannot shake the feeling that there is a constant lack of communication, a kind of strangely beloved loneliness, that is probably symptomatic of our time, when genuine conversations are becoming increasingly difficult.”
This critical tone is further developed and expanded in the poet’s second collection The Fox’s Ticket. In this work, the poet courageously confronts issues such as unemployment and the feeling of redundancy in a society increasingly devoted to production and the manufacture of material goods. In such a world, the artist struggles to find her place, as a safe and stable life is not guaranteed. At the same time, as someone with a sensitive, dreamy, and childlike soul, she is especially vulnerable to the world’s insensitivity. For this reason, the poetic subject often experiences periods of depression, helplessness, and sadness. These emotional states are further intensified by family problems and past traumatic events. And yet, the writing voice never completely resigns; fragments of hope and an indestructible, bittersweet humor keep her above the surface. In Fox's Ticket, Miklič Perne also delves deeply into the meta-poetic component, revealing her relationship to writing and showing us how a poem comes into being. As noted by Tonja Jelen in the afterword, the poems represent an active engagement with life: the act of writing is by no means romanticized, as the poet demonstrates that composing poetry is a demanding and complex process. Motherhood once again plays a significant role in this collection, depicted in both its positive and negative aspects. For the poetic subject, being a mother is something hopeful and bright, but at the same time it's also something that drains her energy and stirs up fears. In this context, Tonja Jelen highlights the different roles of women explored in this poetry collection: “But the poems do not merely arise from existentialism, poetics, and criticism of the system and society; they also carry an important feminist element—subtle, but tangible. The lyrical subject is placed in various roles of an individual woman (...). The motif of the mother, a woman who is still a daughter or a child within an adult self, is thus multifaceted. … The shifting perspective is insightful, and the maternal role of the individual in society isn't glorified—the lyrical subject is overwhelmed by obligations, and this sense of powerlessness is not limited to her alone but extends to others (...).”
"We are dealing with a quiet, unpretentious, and fragile lyrical subject with an extremely autonomous voice, which possesses enough strength and sharpness to penetrate even the most inaccessible inner landscapes, while bravely tackling questions of both personal identity and society. The collection introduces an innovative treatment of the mother-child relationship, a theme that is neither trivialized nor romanticized. The apparent simplicity reveals a deep poetic language and exceptional lyricism, where everything is in its place—every word, every small motif"; these are the words of the jury for the Veronika Award, for which the collection Conversation with Things was nominated. In this collection, the poet returns once again to a looser, abstract language of colorful, impressionistic, multi-layered images, which testify to the search for her own identity and paint her relationship with others in an era of constant change. As was the case in her first collection, this time too, much is conveyed through silence and pauses. The author establishes a dialogue with the things that fill our lives, occupying or giving meaning to it. She observes reality with a careful eye, recording and preserving special moments in which she seeks fragments of truth. Furthermore, there is a sense of wonder towards reality, creation, which holds many mysteries—Miklič Perne approaches them, but does not violently penetrate the essence of appearances (which we cannot truly encompass). Instead, she maintains the impression of enigma that permeates all existence. She is fully aware that we do not possess the world; thus, she places herself in it cautiously, with humility, and at the same time with courage. A certain amount of fear still lingers, paralyzing life, but the poet persistently seeks a way to endure, despite the burdensome weight. She is determined to learn how to trust herself and others, and to believe that purity and innocence still exist.
Poetry
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WEBS / MREŽE
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JELLYFISH / MEDUZE
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BEHIND THE EDGE OF LANGUAGE / ZA ROBOM JEZIKA
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ON A WALK / NA SPREHODU
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SPLENDOUR OF GRASSES / RAZKOŠJE TRAV
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A FRAGMENT / DROBEC
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NICE POEM / LEPA PESEM
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* / *
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* / *
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SECRET / SKRIVNOST
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* / *
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* / *
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RENAISSANCE / RENESANSA
