Slovenia · 100th birthday of Ančka Gošnik Godec

Ančka Gošnik Godec belongs to the generation of Slovenian women artists who shaped the design of children’s books and picture books after the Second World War. She studied at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana and, alongside her work as a fine artist, worked primarily as a book illustrator. Her drawings appeared in numerous editions of Slovenian children’s and young adult literature, accompanying several generations of readers.

The well-known books associated with her illustrations include *Muca Copatarica* by Ela Peroci and *Čuri-muri v Afriki* by Kajetan Kovič. She also illustrated Slovenian fairy tales, folk narratives and collections such as *Zverinice iz Rezije*, a compilation of stories from the Resia Valley (Resiatal). She worked in various literary forms: in addition to short stories for young children, her repertoire also included longer narratives and traditional material.

Gošnik Godec developed an easily recognisable visual language in which figures, animals and landscapes are clearly outlined while also being presented in a narrative manner. Her illustrations were not limited to reproducing the text, but gave the stories their own visual atmosphere. In Slovenian children’s book culture, her images thus became as familiar as the texts they accompanied.

The choice of her 100th birthday for a Slovenian 2-euro commemorative coin reflects this long-standing connection between her work and the Slovenian literary and educational canon. The occasion does not refer to a single political event, but to an artist’s contribution to conveying literature to children. The coin honours a figure from Slovenia’s cultural life whose works reached a broad public, above all through their use in children’s books.