Alma M. Karlin

Born in Celje in 1889, Alma M. Karlin was a Slovenian writer, traveler, and linguist who wrote mainly in German. She is remembered above all for her solo journey around the world, which lasted for years and gave her material for many travel books and essays.

Karlin studied languages and became known as a polyglot. Her travels took her across Asia, the Pacific, and the Americas, and her writing brought her international attention in her lifetime. Readers were drawn to the mix of firsthand adventure, cultural observation, and independence that runs through her work.

She spent her later years back in what is now Slovenia and died in 1950. Today, she is celebrated not only as an author, but also as an unusually bold figure for her time: a woman who set out alone, paid close attention to the world around her, and turned those experiences into lasting books.