Lidija Hilje: Doubting and doing it anyway

Lidija Hilje is a Croatian writer and book coach. After earning a law degree, she spent a decade practicing in Croatian courts before transitioning to writing and coaching—this time in English, her second language. Her work has appeared in The New York Times and other publications. She lives in Zadar, Croatia, with her husband and two daughters. Her debut novel, Slanting Towards the Sea, will soon be published by Simon & Schuster in the US and Daunt Books in the UK. In this episode, we discussed Lidija's journey from law to literature, the shift from writing in Croatian to English, and the cultural expectations that shape storytelling. She spoke about the evolution of her novel, the complexities of translation, and the imposter syndrome she sometimes faces as a non-native English writer.