Slavenka Drakulic Croatia/Sweden
Slavenka Drakulic, born 1949 in Croatia, is one of the best know authors in her country. Her books are published in numerous languages (such as The Balcan Express, How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed, Café Europa). She lives in Croatia, Sweden, and Austria.
A Guided Tour Through the Museum of Communism
Fables from a Mouse, a Parrot, a Bear, a Cat, a Mole, a Pig, a Dog, and a Raven
Penguin Books US, 2011
In A Guided Tour Through the Museum of Communism, Slavenka Drakulic offers an eight-part exploration of Communism by way of an unusual cast of narrators, each from a different country, all of whom reflect on the times past and present twenty years after the fall of Communism. Together they comprise an Orwellian send-up of absurdities during the years of European Communism that showcases this author's prodigious talent.
Rights sold:
US: Penguin
Italy: Baldini-Castoldi Dalai
Sweden: Natur & Kultur
Croatia: Profil
Slovakia: Aspekt
Bulgaria: Janet 45
Frida's Bed Natur & Kultur, Sweden 2007
When young, Frida Kahlo survived a fatal accident which left her in pain for the rest of her life. Kahlo underwent numerous operations in after her accident and the novel focuses on Frida's attempt to communicate her pain and her effort to find the right expression in her paintings.
At 47, the painter is on her deathbed, remembering her life and pain which made her acutely aware of her body. Going back in time, Frida Kahlo traces how her pain gave birth to her art; the underlying theme of the novel is the impossibility of expressing pain in words and her struggle to turn her painting into the language of pain. Her death is a matter of days and Frida knows it. She is convinced that she should not wait for death to take pity on her. Instead, she should, be the one to decide when and how to depart from this world. Towards the end, the novel - written both in the first and the third person - turns to Frida's justification of the suicide she is about to commit.
This is, above all, a novel about the relationship between body, suffering and creativity – yet another, albeit fictional, view of the complex personality of this great painter.
Rights sold:
Germany: Zsolnay Verlag
Sweden: Natur och Kultur
USA: Penguin Group
Norway: Gyldendal Norsk
India/Malayalam: DC Books
Italy: Baldini Castoldi Dalai
Hungary: Nyitott Könyvmuhely