Irena Žerjal (20 April 1940 – 2018) was a Slovene poet, writer and translator who also used the pen name Maja Tul in her early work.

Žerjal was born in San Giuseppe della Chiusa () in Italy in 1940. She studied Slovene and Russian at the University of Ljubljana. She taught at various Slovene language secondary schools in the Trieste region. She writes poetry and short stories. She was married to the public intellectual, sociologist and politician Jože Pučnik from 1964 to 1969 and lived with him in Hamburg, Germany, for a while.

Published works

Poetry Goreče oljke (Burning Olive Trees), 1969 Topli gozdovi (Warm Forests), 1972 Klišarna utopičnih idej (The Cliche Factory of Utopic Ideas), 1974 Pobegla zvezda (The Fugitive Star), 1977 Gladež (Famine), 1982 Alabaster (Alabaster), 1984 Let morske lastovice (Flight of the Sea Swallow), 1987

Prose Tragedijica na Grobljah (The Small Tragedy at Groblje), 1973 Morje, ribe, asfalt (Sea, Fish, Asphaplt), co-author with Marija Mislej, 1976 Burja in kamni (The Bora and Stones), co-author with Nadja Švara in Marija Mislej, 1987 Magnetofonski trak (The Recording Tape), 1994

References