Utentebarbaraunkovic

Barbara Unković Bio:

My name is Barbara Unković and I am the author of Adriatic Blue. I was born in Whangarei New Zealand in 1955. My father was Croatian and my mother is English. I am, in fact D H Lawrence’s third cousin.
When I am not in Auckland, I live for eight months of the year in Račišće, a small fishing village of 200 people on the island of Korčula in Croatia, the original home of my father’s family. My lifestyle here in Croatia is very simple and revolves around the land and the seasons. My husband and I grow all our own vegetables as well as herbs, flowers, olives and grapes. Once a year we press the olives and grapes to produce our own olive oil and wine. I also enjoy hand making olive oil soap, drying herbs to make tea, baking bread and cooking various traditional Croatian dishes using our home grown organic produce.
This way of life also enables me to have the freedom to write, exploring my imagination and extending my creativity.
In addition to my nine short stories which have been published by More.com in the USA, I have also been published in the UK. My most notable pieces being ‘The Voice’ which was winner of the Writer’s Bill Board competition February 2010 Flash Fiction competition; ‘The Flourish’ which won March 2010; ‘Psycho’ which was placed second in the Global Short Stories January 2010 competition; ‘Nadia’ which won the Writer’s Bill Board Short Fiction Competition for May 2010; English Rose which was shortlisted for the Meridian Short Story Competition in July 2010; The Bookworm which won the Writer’s Bill Board Flash Fiction Competition for August 2010; Formidable Fred which won the Writer’s Bill Board Flash Fiction Competition in September 2010; Adriatic Sun which was shortlisted for the Meridian Autumn Short Story Competition in October 2010, The Blink of an Eye which won the Writer’s Bill Board Flash Fiction Competition in December 2010 and Together Forever which won the Writer’s Bill Board Flash Fiction Competition in January 2011.
My first book ‘Adriatic Blue’ is a collection of 30 short stories which has been published by Old Line Publications from Maryland USA, in July 2010.
My second book entitled ‘Weeds in the Garden of Eden’ is a nonfiction travel novel which paints the picture of my return to Croatia seeking out my ancestors and my subsequent purchase of an uninhabited 200 year old stone house where I now live. This book was released on 18 February 2011.
I am currently working on a new collection of short fiction entitled ‘Adriatic Sun.’