Irena Žerjal

{{short description|Slovene poet, writer and translator (1940–1018)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox writer

| name = Irena Žerjal

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| birth_date = {{birth date|1940|4|20|df=y}}

| birth_place = San Giuseppe della Chiusa, Kingdom of Italy (now in Italy)

| death_date = {{death year and age|2018|1940}}{{cite web | last=Rainews | first=Redazione di | title=V 79. letu starosti je umrla tržaška pesnica Irena Žerjal | website=RaiNews | date=2018-08-29 | url=https://www.rainews.it/tgr/fjk/video/2018/08/tdd-v-79-letu-starosti-je-umrla-trzaska-pesnica-Irena-Zerjal-08cea958-8ae7-425f-9728-26b174716dbe.html | language=sl | access-date=2023-09-13}}

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| occupation = Poet, writer, translator and teacher

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Irena Žerjal (20 April 1940 – 2018) was a Slovene poet, writer and translator who also used the pen name Maja Tul in her early work.{{cite web |url=http://www.drustvo-dsp.si/si/pisatelji/608/detail.html |title=Slovene Writers' Association site |language=Slovenian |work=Slovene writers' portal |publisher=DSP Slovene Writers' Association |accessdate=8 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120217194618/http://www.drustvo-dsp.si/si/pisatelji/608/detail.html |archive-date=17 February 2012 |url-status=dead }}

Žerjal was born in San Giuseppe della Chiusa ({{langx|sl|Ricmanje}}) in Italy in 1940. She studied Slovene and Russian at the University of Ljubljana. She taught at various Slovene language secondary schools in the Trieste region. She writes poetry and short stories. She was married to the public intellectual, sociologist and politician Jože Pučnik from 1964 to 1969 and lived with him in Hamburg, Germany, for a while.{{Cite web |url=http://nl.ijs.si/fedora/get/sbl:4924/VIEW/ |title=Slovene Biographical Lexicon |access-date=8 March 2012 |archive-date=4 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140104211026/http://nl.ijs.si/fedora/get/sbl:4924/VIEW/ |url-status=dead }}