Speculative fiction writer, editor, psychologist and hiking fan.
Complete bibliography (in Croatian)
About Ivana
Ivana Delač (born in 1983 in Zagreb, Croatia) graduated psychology in 2008 and she works as a psychology teacher and school psychologist in III. gimnazija (Third Grammar School) in Zagreb. She is also a cognitive-behavioral therapy trainee, currently in supervision, and the president of Expert group for school psychology in Croatian Psychological Chamber.
She is an accomplished writer of speculative fiction who entered the Croatian SF scene in 2006, when her first story was published. Since then, her bibliography includes around forty published short stories and three novels – fantasy novel for children “Pegazari” (“Pegasars”, 2009), urban fantasy YA novel “Izgnani” (“The Exiled”, 2016) and feminist steampunk “Japodinine muke” (“Japodina’s troubles”, 2018).
Ivana won three SFERA awards (for short story “Post mortem”, novel “Pegazari” and educative LARP project “Astra” which she co-organized in 2014). Her novels “Pegazari” and “Izgnani” won the Artefakt award as well, and one of her short stories, “Reminiscencije oženjenog vilenjaka” (“Reminiscences of a married elf”) got the First Istrakon award.
From 2013 till 2020, Ivana was the editor of annual short story collection published for the oldest and largest SF convention in this part of Europe, SFeraKon. SFeraKon is organised by SFera Society for Science Fiction, in which Ivana spent years as a president of jury for SFERICE (awards given to best stories and art created by elementary and high school pupils) and a member of SFERA award jury. She participated in the international project NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) for a couple of years, and she co-ordinated the official Croatian NaNoWriMo region in 2012. She is an active member and a secretary of Cygnus Society for promotion of culture and arts and is currently working on the blockbuster international LARP based on the world of the Elder Scrolls games, “The Elder Scrolls Chronicles: The Hold of Winter”.
In 2020, she was a Guest of Honor (GoH) on Futuricon / Eurocon 2020, alongside scientist Ivica Puljak and author Adrian Tchaikovsky.
Ivana can often be found hiking in Croatian mountains or playing badminton, and she likes to travel and visit museums. In an alternate universe, she would probably be an archaeologist, historian or a movie director.
Ivana’s short stories
Although most of Ivana’s stories and all her novels are written and published in Croatian, a couple of her short stories were translated and published in English. That includes her story “River fairy”, published in “Kontakt – an anthology of Croatian SF” for Eurocon 2012 held in Zagreb, and a couple of other stories that can be read for free online:
Fangs and honey
Eridan no. 15 – Eurocon&Worldcon special, 2014
A wild hunt in the middle of the forest turns into something else entirely, as members of two species are inexplicably drawn to each other…
Becoming a Pegasar
Eridan no. 12 – Eurocon special, 2012
A bullied girl travels to another world, where she finds out about her special destiny… This story introduced a fantasy world that later expanded into Ivana’s first novel, “Pegasars”.
Reminiscences of a married elf
Parsek no. 117 – Worldcon special, 2011
When a (male) elf and a (female) dwarf fall in love and get married, trouble is inevitable… This story won the First Istrakon award.
Post mortem
Parsek no. 112 – Eurocon special, 2010
A young man dies and finds out that the afterlife is quite different than expected, including one really displeased god who guides him through it… This story won the SFERA award.
Ivana Delač 