Poto © Nada Zgank
Nataša Velikonja (Nova Gorica, 1967) is a poetess, sociologist, essayist and translator. In 1992 she graduated in Theoretical Sociology at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Ljubljana, receiving the Student Prešeren Award for her thesis. She published five poetry collections; her debut Abonma (The Season Ticket, 1994) is considered Slovenia’s first openly declared volume of lesbian poetry. Nataša Velikonja published three books of essays and scientific treatises, and during the past two decades over five hundred essays, columns, sociological dissertations and theoretical contributions. She translates books dealing with lesbian and gay theory and radical social criticism, as well as theory of design and architecture. She is a prolific contributor to a range of social, cultural and artistic fields in Slovenia: she was the editor of the Journal for the Critique of Science, the editor-in-chief of the Lesbo magazine, a long-standing columnist of Radio Študent and a staunch queer activist and founder of the Lesbian Library in the Metelkova Autonomous Cultural Zone. Since 1995 she has held the status of independent poet, critic and translator granted by the Ministry of Culture of the RS. In 2016, Nataša Velikonja received the Župančič Prize, the City of Ljubljana’s highest recognition for outstanding creativity in the arts.
