House of good stories
From 1945, when the newly established Mladinska knjiga produced its first six books, humble little exercise books for children, to the current year, when – together with reprints – close to 500 titles will be published, Mladinska knjiga Založba publishing house has evolved into the leading Slovenian general publisher, with a rich and diverse range of products for all generations.
As the company’s name itself indicates (mladinska = youth), the first publications were intended for children and teenagers, to whom we pay special attention today. The editions of established Slovenian authors and illustrators (Lila Prap, Jelka Reichman, Marlenka Stupica, Svetlana Makarovič ...), including many who have also become established abroad specifically with the help of our publishing house, and the carefully considered selection of foreign illustrators (Axel Scheffler, Tomi Ungerer, Rotraut Susanne Berner, Quentin Blake, Eric Hill, Lucy Cousins ...), serve to ensure that the very youngest readers have access to the best work that acclaimed Slovenian and foreign authors have written and continue to write (Astrid Lindgren, Julia Donaldson, Roald Dahl, A. A. Milne ...).
Slovenian picture books are well known elsewhere in the world. Today Lila Prap is a veritable international star, and her original picture books are read and admired in more than 35 countries on all continents of the world!
Major emphasis is also placed on the company’s activities in the field of young-adult fiction, and numerous collections present some of the finest works of local authors as well as outstanding translations of a range of classics by foreign authors such as Cornelia Funke, Michael Ende and Neil Gaiman. One notable phenomenon is The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, which first came out in its Slovenian version in 1964, and since then in 21 reprints in a total run of 123,000 copies!
And as for the undiminished popularity of fantasy literature – who is not familiar with the numerous books from the Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, His Dark Materials and Artemis Fowl series! We simply could not imagine our title list without authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien, J. K. Rowling, Philip Pullman, C. S. Lewis or Ursula K. Le Guin.
There is also an extensive range of original and translated fiction. Drago Jančar, Boris Pahor, Evald Flisar, Brina Svit, Feri Lainšček, Tone Pavček and Ciril Zlobec are just some of the best-read Slovenian writers of Slovenian literature. In addition to the classical heroes, modern literary ones from all over the world address readers through the novels of Umberto Eco, Orhan Pamuk, Khaled Hosseini, Haruki Murakami, Yann Martel, Cormac McCarthy, Ian McEwan, Amos Oz, Kluun, Arto Paasilinna or Carlos Ruiz Zafón.
Alongside the carefully considered selection of translated titles in various fields of popular science and humanities by the authors Karen Armstrong, Bill Bryson, Robert Wright, Malcolm Gladwell, Lin Yutang and others, the enthusiasm of Slovenian readers extends beyond local authors to a range of foreign writers in the fields of literature on political affairs and modern history (Roberto Saviano, Tony Judt, Naomi Klein and more).
Of course Mladinska knjiga also satisfies less demanding reader tastes, and in our list of translated global bestsellers the outstanding names are those of the most popular authors, from Dan Brown and James Patterson, John Grisham, Michael Crichton, Tess Gerritsen, Henning Mankell to Stephanie Meyer and Kate Mosse.
For many years now we have been especially proud of the major original projects of national importance, such as the Encyclopaedia of Slovenia (in 16 volumes), Atlas of Slovenia, the major dictionary Slovenski veliki leksikon and the luxury Slovenian edition of the Bible, to name just a few.
The general handbooks and guides offer a diverse range of content – from large illustrated encyclopaedias, cook books, gardening manuals and tourist guides, reference books for parents and educators, reference books for healthy lifestyles, to books stretching into the fields of self-awareness and personal development and growth. A considerable portion of our range of titles from the last decade is also available in the collection of pocket paperbacks.
In 2010 Mladinska knjiga Založba is celebrating its 65th anniversary. It is maintaining and consolidating its position as the leading and largest publishing house in Slovenia in terms of number of published titles per year, and it remains the leading publisher of magazines for children and youth, while in recent years it has been focusing significantly on publishing numerous textbooks for primary and secondary schools.