Nina Kovačić (née Ružička) was born in Pula and lives in Zagreb (both in Croatia). She writes haiku, free style and rhymed verse poetry. She has released five books of haiku “A Spring Tea” (2016), “The Murmur of Waves” (2020), “The Sunlit Stained Glass” (2022), “Beyond the Boundaries of Language” (2022, co-authored with Goran Gatalica) and “A Fingerprint” (2023). She is a member of the Croatian Geological Society, Croatian Cultural Association and United Haiku and Tanka Society (USA).

SOME THOUGHTS

I was acquainted with Japanese short poetry forms in secondary school. Aside from being fascinated by the works of the “the big four” (Basho, Buson, Issa, Shiki), I also liked reading poems from the Manyoshu collection. However, my attempts to write haiku in that period are not worth mentioning. The crucial influential trigger in re-starting to write was the book “Japanese Haiku Poetry and Its Cultural-Historical Framework” by the greatest Croatian Japanologist and promoter of haiku, the late Vladimir Devidé. He planted the haiku seeds which bloom nowadays, and not only in Croatia. After few years of learning how to write and attempting to do it well, I have been publishing my works in short Japanese forms of poetry and prose (haiku, senryu, tanka, renga, haibun, haiga) since 2012.

My formula is: be concentrated, open all your senses, catch the moment and describe it in the form of haiku! Once it has been written, a haiku should be read again with an appropriate dose of self-criticism. The three lines’ asceticism highlights the significance and sensitiveness of the words to be chosen. So, leave out unnecessary ones! Continuously develop your vocabulary and writing skills! And read! Learn from the best, but develop your own style! Investigate new ways and stimulate your creativity to avoid self-plagiarism! Haiku is the tranquility oasis of mine, a way to find new dimension of expressing my personality and creativity at a mature age.