Zlobec was born in 1925 in the village of
Ponikve on the
Karst Plateau in what was then the
Julian March region of the
Kingdom of Italy. He attended school in
Gorizia and
Koper. He was expelled from school in 1941 for writing poetry in
Slovene, the use of which was strictly forbidden under the policies of
Fascist Italianization. During the
Second World War he was an activist for the
Slovene Liberation Front and briefly joined the
Partisans. After the war he completed his studies and graduated from the
University of Ljubljana He rose to public prominence in 1953, as one of the four co-authors of the collection of poetry called "The Poems of the Four" (
Pesmi štirih). The collection marked a turning point in the Slovene post-war culture, as it represented a break with the hitherto imposition of
Socialist realism as the sole style in literature. The other three poets who participated in the project were
Kajetan Kovič,
Janez Menart and
Tone Pavček. Zlobec won the
Prešeren Foundation Award in 1965 for his poetry collection
Najina oaza (Our Oasis) and the
Grand Prešeren Award in 1982 for his poetry collection
Glas (Voice). In the 1970s and 1980s, he also served as the editor of the intellectual and cultural journal
Sodobnost. In 1990, Zlobec joined the
Socialist Party of Slovenia and ran successfully for the Slovenian Presidency, an advisory body to the President of the Republic. He was considered a close ally of the President
Milan Kučan. After 1992, he retired from political life. He was the father of the activist, author, translator and politician
Jaša Zlobec. ==Poetry collections==