Erica Johnson Debeljak
was born and raised in San Francisco, California. In 1980, she moved to New York City, where she studied French Literature at Columbia University and then went on to get an MBA from New York University. She worked as a banker for five years before moving to the capital of the newly independent Slovenia to marry a poet, Ales Debeljak. She settled in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, studied the language, and is now working as a translator from Slovenian into English and as a popular essayist and columnist.
Her most recent book, Pesnik in jaz (The Poet and I) is on the life of Slovenian poet Srecko Kosovel and was published in 2004. She contributes regularly to Slovenian literary journals, newspapers, popular magazines, and other publications.Eurozine Articles
Gained in translation
What is the translator's job? To bring the text to the reader or the reader to the text? And either way, do translators receive the credit they deserve? [Slovak version added] [more]
After the siege
A visit to Sarajevo reveals that the heroes of the siege from 1992 to 1995 have yet to be rewarded with ordinary life. [more]





