Vinko Ošlak

Who is Vinko Ošlak?

Vinko Ošlak is a Slovene author, essayist, translator, columnist and esperantist from the Austrian state of Carinthia.

Ošlak was born in the town of Slovenj Gradec, then part of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia in former Yugoslavia. After completing his primary and high school education in his native province of Slovenian Carinthia, he enrolled at the University of Ljubljana, where he studied political science. Due to economic problems, he quit the studies and dedicated himself to journalism. A devout Roman Catholic, he became active in the Slovenian Christian intellectual subculture around the alternative journal Revija 2000. Among others, he became a close friend of the Slovenian Christian Socialist poet and dissident Edvard Kocbek, who strongly influenced Ošlak's spiritual and intellectual development.

Due to his critical attitude towards the Titoist regime, Ošlak was unable to get a job as journalist, and worked as a manual worker. In 1983, after pettifoggery by the Yugoslav secret police, Ošlak decided to move to Austria. He settled in Klagenfurt, Carinthia, and became involved in the cultural activities of the Carinthian Slovene minority.