Mate Balota

Mijo (Miho) Mirković (; 28 September 1898 – 17 February 1963), also known by his pen name Mate Balota, was a prominent Croatian poet, novelist and economist. Considered one of the most prominent Croatian poets of the 20th century and often credited as the greatest Istrian poet, he was called "the greatest Istrian after Labin's Matija Vlačić" by Tone Peruško.

Mirković was born in Rakalj, southeastern Istria. His family was evacuated to Moravia at the beginning of the Great War. Upon his return to Croatia he worked as a journalist in Pula before moving to Zagreb, where he graduated from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. He later studied economy and social sciences in Berlin and Frankfurt, where he had gone in order to examine the original manuscripts of Matija Vlačić. He obtained his doctorate from the University of Frankfurt in 1922, and subsequently taught in Osijek, Subotica and Belgrade. After World War II, he was a professor at the Faculty of Economics in Zagreb until his death. A member of Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts (JAZU) since 1947, he was its Secretary General from 1958 until 1961, and in 1960 received the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Mirković is one of the most appreciated Croatian dialect poets. which was later published in several more editions. Described as a nostalgic experience of Istria, a meeting named after the book is held in Rakalj since 1968, in Mirković's honour. His only novel is Tijesna zemlja: roman iz istarskog narodnog života (1946), an economic and social study in which he portrays life in an Istrian village from the second half of the 19th century until the 1940s, following the life of a family through three generations. he received his doctorate in economics with a thesis titled O glavnom razlogu gospodarske zaostalosti slavenskih naroda ("on the main reason for the economic backwardness of the Slavic peoples").

Mirković had decided to go study in Frankfurt, because there were stored the manuscripts of Vlačić (Flacius), who he considered the "greatest Istrian of all time." From 1957 until his death he was full professor at the Faculty of Economics in Zagreb. Starting from 1947 he was a full member of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, where he was Secretary General from 1958 until 1961.

Mirković published a large number of university textbooks and works on economy, including Ekonomsku historiju Jugoslavije (1958).

Mirković was particularly fond of Labin and its people, possibly due to the fact that his grandmother, Martina, was from nearby Labin.

Prose His novel and indirect autobiographical work Tijesna zemlja: roman iz istarskog narodnog života (1946) polarizes the critics to this day.

The scientific conference Susreti na dragom kamenu ("Encounters on a Precious Stone") is held every year in Mirković's honour in his native Rakalj. Jadrolinija's MF Mate Balota, mostly sailing around Zadar, is named after him.