Vitan Mal

Mal was investigated in 2012 for photographing children without permission at a Ljubljana elementary school and charges were filed against him. He was charged with possession of child pornography in 2013, and in 2014 he was found guilty and received a 2-year suspended sentence with a 5-year probation period.

Mal is generally considered the first Slovene write of juvenile literature that wrote, as he put it, "about apparently banal things such as having to pee, throwing up, and masturbation." Slovene juvenile literature experienced a rebirth in the 1980s in part due to Mal's contributions and distanced itself from a moralizing approach to upbringing. Young readers were attracted to his portrayal of young people as they really are, with all of their good and bad qualities.

The film 1977 Sreča na vrvici (Happiness on a Leash) was based on Mal's 1975 story Teci, teci kuža moj (Run, Run, My Dog). This is Slovenia's commercially most successful film, with rights having been purchased in over fifty countries. Mal's book Ime mi je Tomaž (My Name is Thomas) was used by the director Tugo Štiglic (1946–) as basis for the screenplay for the films Poletje v školjki (Summer in a Shell) and Poletje v školjki 2 (Summer in a Shell 2), which became Slovene cult films in the 1980s.

Mall worked as a professional camera operator and journalist for Radiotelevizija Slovenija (RTV), and then as an assistant cameraman for the series Erazem in potepuh (Erasmus and the Tramp) and the film Cvetje v jeseni (Autumn Blooms). He wrote several episodes for RTV for the series Kuhinja pri violinskem ključu (Cook on a Treble Clef), which was aired in 1974.

Vitan Mal (pronounced [ˈʋiːtan ˈmaːl]; born 25 October 1946) is a Slovene writer.

Vitan Mal was born on 25 October 1946 in the Rožna Dolina neighborhood of Ljubljana. After graduating from secondary school, he studied Slavic studies and librarianship at the University of Ljubljana's Faculty of Education. He has worked as a camera operator, a journalist, and an editor for the children and young people's program at Slovene national public broadcasting organization, Radiotelevizija Slovenija.