Barbara Ivusic

Barbara Ivusic was born in Dubrovnik, Croatia. She lived in Sydney, Australia for twenty-six years and established herself as a writer and editor. She has a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in English Literature from the University of Sydney and a certificate in Professional Editing from the University of Technology Sydney. Her fiction has appeared in international print magazines as well as anthologies. In 2023, she received the Berlin Stipend for Literature offered by the Department for Culture and Europe. She's currently living and working in Berlin, writing her first novel. 

What brought you to Berlin? Love? World politics? Or was it a coincidence?

Funnily enough, I never planned on coming to Berlin. When I came back to Europe from Australia, I applied for work all over the place and a job at a digital publishing house opened up in Berlin, so I came here for work seven years ago and grew roots.

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What do you love about Berlin?

I love how multicultural the city is, the writing scene, the people I've met here and how the architecture is never the same, so you can't really get lost if you try and find your way around from memory.

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What do you miss in Berlin?

I miss beaches! The act of checking my shoes before I put them on. Bush walking, deadly snakes and spiders ;).

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What is your favorite spot in Berlin?

I love the lakes in and around Berlin. I don't have a favorite lake because they're all special in their own way, except the swampy ones, they're scary.

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Would you say you are a different person in Berlin? A different translator? And if yes, in what way?

No, I would say I am still the same person as anywhere else.

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Which existing literary work do you wish you had written?

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. It was one of the first novels that made me want to become a writer. The setting, language and the plot still grip me.