Marija Ott Franolić

Literary critic, essayist and editor from Zagreb, Croatia. She regularly publishes literary criticism and essays in many Croatian literary magazines and websites. Lately, her theoretical research focuses on the relationship between reading, empathy and critical thinking, with a particular interest in early literacy. She uses her theoretical knowledge to organize practical reading workshops and book clubs in libraries, bookshops, kindergartens and schools. She has also hosted literary workshops and book clubs aimed at women readers.

Her PhD on women’s diaries and the history of women’s everyday life was published in 2016 under the title A Diary of the Unattainable (in Croatian Dnevnik ustremljen nedostižnom). With literary critic and scholar Anda Bukvić Pažin she wrote a popular science book Reading Picture Books to Children: How and Why? (in Croatian: Velika važnost malih priča: zašto i kako čitati djeci, 2023).