Daniel Načinović

Daniel Načinović (born January 29, 1952) is a Croatian poet, prose writer, essayist, journalist, and translator.

A member of the Croatian Writers' Association and the Croatian Journalists' Association, Načinović grew up in Labin and completed his studies in Pula. He then moved to Italy, to pursue his studies of the Italian language. Načinović started writing poetry in high school. His first collection of poems, Watercolors, was published in 1973. Since then, many more collections have been published, and he also authored several essays and works of prose. Today Načinović is also appreciated for his children's books, some of which he both wrote and illustrated. As Načinović is native of coastal Istria, many of his works are in the Chakavian dialect.

Biography Daniel Načinović has been credited as one of the most prominent contemporary Croatian writers. He is also involved in illustration, painting and music. Načinović was educated in Vinež, Labin, Pazin, Rijeka, Pula and Zagreb. He attended classical grammar school (Klasična gimnazija) at the Episcopal Seminary in Pazin, graduating in 1969. He studied philosophy and theology in Rijeka for two years. In 1975, he graduated from the Pedagogical Academy in Pula, in Croatian and Italian language. He completed his early studies of the Italian language in 1975, at the University of Siena (Italy); and later, in 2002, at the University of Camerino (Italy). He also studied at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb.

He worked as a journalist for newspaper Glas Istre from 1975 to 2001. For a short time (at the end of 1990 and in the first half of 1991) he worked as an editor-in-chief in the editorial office of the newly established, illustrated magazine "Naša Sloga" in Pazin. He was a member of the editorial board of the Pula literary magazine Istra, and of those of Istra kroz stoljeća and Nova Istra. In 1984 he became a member of the Croatian Writers' Association (Zagreb). With writers Aldo Kliman, Miroslav Sinčić, Stjepan Vukušić, Tatjana Arambašin and Boris Biletić, he was one of the members of the Initiative Committee, and one of the organizers of the Osnivačke skupštine Istarskog ogranka Društva hrvatskih književnika ("Founding Assembly of the Istrian branch of the Society of Croatian Writers"), held in Pula on July 2, 1990. After many years as a journalist, in 2001 he became an independent artist and writer, a member of the Croatian Association of Free Artists (Zagreb), and a member of the Croatian Journalists' Association. Several songs written by Načinović won the festival. He participated in several other song contests and festivals, including Kastav's Čansonfest, which he won as best singer-songwriter in its first edition in 2019. In 2003, "Trag u beskraju" (A Trail in Infinity), Načinović's version of Biagio Antonacci's "Se è vero che ci sei", written for Oliver Dragojević, won the latter several Porin Awards.

On May 24, 2013, Načinović's Čakavian adaptation of Carlo Goldoni's The Mistress of the Inn (Oštarica Mirandolina) debuted at the Istrian National Theater.