About Us
Bojana Petkovič, Author, Publisher and Language teacher
In the Edita publishing house I can combine my different passions and talents: illustration, design, good stories and literature, audiobooks and film making, language learning and creating materials for teachers and students.
My background:
My mother told me that I used to come home kindergarten with 10 paintings a day (while the other kids only came home with one or two). My favorite subject in primary school was Art and I used to go to all the extra Art lessons after school.
In high school my favorite subject was Spanish. During that period, I used to dedicate my free time to making movies (also writing scripts, organizing the days of shooting, editing, post production and of course promotion).
After high school I enrolled at the University of Ljubljana where I studied Spanish and Czech language and literature, so I became a Spanish professor and translator for Czech.
After my studies, I worked for 5 language schools where I taught Spanish and Czech to adults and children.
At the same time, I taught Spanish in two primary schools in Slovenia and two high schools, where I gained experience in how to motivate and teach Spanish to up to 33 students.
In 2016 I opened my own language school Jezikovno Mesto , where I finally had enough space to be creative and to organize and teach languages in my own way. A constant problem I've been facing has been a lack of good teaching materials which include contemporary teaching-learning approaches. So, I've created my own materials. And why not make it easier for other teachers and students as well?
This is the reason I opened my own publishing company on the 6th of July 2020. In November 2020 we published our first bilingual (English and Slovene) story book, titled Giant Winter and the Spring Princess . Shortly after that our language game Lingopoly as well as a Czech - Slovenian dictionary titled False friends / Falešní přátele will be published too.
- Juan Juvancic, Illustrator
My name is Juan Juvancic, I am a graphic designer, painter and sculptor. I am a Slovenian citizen, born in Argentina.
I studied graphic design at the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina. From my previous years in college, I have tried almost every aspect of creation.
I worked for Cartoon Network, where my passion for animation and stop motion was born, which is what I do. From idea to product.
My other passions are stage and acting. I participated in several independent Slovenian films, where I was, screenwriter, extra, actor, cameraman. I also participated in a television program that teaches art to children.
My life draws, without it I could not live ...
- Robert Riley, Author
&
Isabella C. Riley, Illustrator and translator, art and english teacher
Robert Riley:
It's strange what life has in store for you. 20 years ago I was living in Sussex in the south of England, (over) working as a solicitor in private practice. One day my partner suggested I might like to write a story for our daughter's birthday party. Isabella was going to a Steiner school where stories were an essential part of everyday life. I loved reading stories to her, so why not write my own? In my background I was lucky to have had a teacher who gave me a love of language and books. And as a solicitor it wasn't the law that fascinated me, but the people I met and their stories. Those birthday stories were full of adventures, with elves and bears, giants and magicians. The main character was always the young girl who was every young girl (and young boy). There was The Giant Who Stole the Colors of the World, The Fire Fairies and Rodney the Dragon, Sister Sun, when the giants captured and imprisoned the sun, and of course Giant Winter and the Spring Princess.
Since then my life has changed. I have been lucky enough to retire and move to live in the beautiful countryside of Slovenia. Although I no longer write birthday stories for Isabella, when time allows (but with the pleasurable demands of a home, garden and dog, it doesn’t always allow much time), I still enjoy writing stories. Some are on my computer, more are handwritten in various notebooks, but until now all of them were just a personal private hobby. It took Isabella to decide that the stories she enjoyed as a child should not be locked away but enjoyed by others. But that is Isabella's story to tell.
I hope that others will now enjoy the stories as much as the children and parents who listened to them all those years ago at Isabella's birthday parties.