Mag. Barbara Hanuš, born in 1960 in Ljubljana, is a professor of Slovenian language and pedagogy, a senior librarian, and a contributing editor for the magazines Ciciban and Cicido. She is the author of picture books, primary school textbooks, workbooks, and scholarly articles on reading literacy.
For five years, she worked at a school in Rakova Jelša, Ljubljana, where many children came from immigrant families from the former Yugoslav republics. There, she sought ways to foster tolerance and empathy among young people towards different ethnic groups. She discovered that a good book can be a powerful tool in achieving this goal.
Now an immigrant herself, Barbara lives in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, where she teaches Slovenian. Her students range in age from 7 to 75, and she strives to inspire them all to develop a love for reading. She actively participates in international conferences on promoting intercultural dialogue, presenting her work in Spain, Belgium, Estonia, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, and beyond.
On all her journeys, she brings along her multilingual picture books About Jakob and Mici the Cat, as well as numerous other works by Slovenian authors for children and young adults.
