Vedrana Rudan

Vedrana Rudan was born on 29 October 1949 in Opatija and raised in Mošćenička Draga. Her father worked as a fisherman and gardener and had family roots in Herzegovina. Her mother, a kindergarten principal with roots in Lika, left that job under family pressure and later lived with depression and alcoholism, including psychiatric hospitalization. These family strains later fed Rudan's writing about mothers, daughters and domestic power.

In 1973 Rudan graduated from the Teacher Training College at the University of Rijeka with degrees in Croatian and German. The languages training supported later work as a teacher, tourist guide and journalist. She often joked that her children were better educated than she was, while insisting that lived experience remained her main school.

Rudan worked as a teacher, tourist guide and newspaper journalist before becoming a radio journalist. She wrote for Feral Tribune, Slobodna Dalmacija, Novi list, Jutarnji list and Nacional. Fired from Radio Rijeka in 1991 for criticizing Franjo Tuđman, she later returned briefly by court order and then quit. From the early 2000s she published novels and column collections that made her a bestselling and controversial literary brand. Her English-language editions with Dalkey Archive Press, especially Night, introduced her internationally. Between 2010 and 2015 her blog How to Die Without Stress reached a large online audience.

Rudan had a son, Slaven, and a daughter, Asja Hrvatin, from her first marriage. She later married lawyer Ljubiša Drageljević and lived in Rijeka. She wrote publicly about abuse in her first marriage and about finding unconditional love through her children and a grandson, Krešo. Slaven, a psychologist and author, also helped manage her career and blog administration.

Rudan presented herself as an anti-hypocrisy polemicist. She attacked Croatian nationalism when she saw it wrapped in piety, criticized the Catholic Church in harsh terms, and wrote against what she called democratic fascism in Western politics. She expressed sympathy for Donald Trump in some columns and took contested positions on the war in Ukraine, blaming U.S. policy more than Russian aggression. Supporters heard honesty; opponents heard provocation. She framed much of her late blog writing as a refusal to join collective hatred.

Seventeen books, widely translated fiction, stage adaptations across Europe and the United States, and decades of columns made Rudan one of the most recognizable Croatian literary personalities of her generation. After her death, writers and performers from Croatia, Serbia and elsewhere praised her bravery and style. Her phrase about leaving for an area with no reception became the public epitaph of her own Facebook farewell.

Rudan's public stature rested more on readership and controversy than on a long list of state prizes. Membership in the Croatian Writers Society and international translation and theatrical adaptation of her novels were the main formal marks of recognition during her lifetime.

Besides newspapers and books, Rudan appeared frequently on television talk shows, including Nedjeljom u 2, where she discussed illness, politics and mortality. Her blog and Facebook page extended that voice online. Novels such as Night and Mothers and Daughters reached English-language readers through Dalkey Archive Press.

Rudan was repeatedly accused of antisemitism after columns and television remarks, including a 2009 Holocaust Remembrance Day comparison involving Gaza that ended her work with Nova TV. She also published columns that critics called racist or cruel, including remarks on intercountry adoption. She denied soft language as a duty and often answered criticism by escalating it. These disputes remained part of her public identity until the end of her life.

Diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma in 2024, Rudan discussed dying, attempted to arrange assisted suicide in Switzerland in 2025, then continued treatment in Croatia including stereotactic radiotherapy and hyperbaric oxygen therapy. She died in Rijeka on 18 August 2026, aged 76. Her official Facebook page announced: Vedrana left for an area with no reception. A farewell gathering and public tributes followed across regional media.