Slave Katin

Biography

SLAVЕ’ NIKOLOVSKI – KATIN, who is known only as Slavè Katin, is a great lover of his native Prespa, of Macedonia, ethnic Macedonians, as well as of the Macedoniaj Orthodox Churvh-Ohrid Arcbisopric and the Macedonian Diaspora. He is known to the Macedonian and international community for his numerous publications, journalistic and scientific papers devoted mainly to the ethnic Macedonia and the Macedonians in the world.

Slavè Katin does not belong to any political party, because he belongs to the Ethnic Macedonia, to the Macedonians in the Diaspora and to the Macedonian Orthodox Church-Ohrid Archbishopric, which as an institution plays an important role in gathering of the Macedonians outside Macedonia, especially in the overseas countries and all over the world.

Katin’s diverse palette for realization of the strategic objectives in this field covers numerous endeavors, part of which is already functioning. In addition to his relatively frequent visits to the three continents and his private meetings with the migrants, through his monographic publications about the most successful of them Katin also tries to arouse interest among state leaders in the country for collaboration with the Diaspora. This is especially expected by publishing of his 55 book Israel and Macedonia (in English Macedonian and Hebrew).

He was born on August 19, 1941, in Dolna Prespa in a house which the waves of Lake Prespa used to splash at that time, near the old settlement Nakolec. He was born at the start of World War II when Hitler’s Germany, opiated by fascist ideology, rose against the entire world believing it had the power to seize it all.

His biography tells us that several months after he was born his family moved to Ljubojno, where his mother Sandra came from. Until he finished the Primary school in Ljubojno and the Technical school in Skopje, he carried the family name of his mother Sandra – Grezhlovski, then at the Faculty in Belgrade continued with the family name of his biological father Risto (Bardxevski)– Nikolovski. Slavè spent most of his childhood and early years in Ljubojno, where he has a library of about 4.000 book, and has continued to return to it almost his entire life. Thus, from a very young age he felt the hard migrant life of the people from Prespa, particularly through the migrant saga of his grandfather, Alekso (Alec) Ristov- Grezhlov in Detroit, USA, his mother Sandra and his stepfather Josif Nichevski in Toronto, Canada

Slavè completed eight years of primary school in the school “Dimitar Vlahov” in Ljubojno gaining his certificate, and learned Geodesy at the Secondary Technical School “Zdravko TSvetkovski” in Skopje. He studied at the Geodesy Department of the University of Belgrade, then he continued his education in Toronto, but graduated from the Department of English Language and Literature at the Faculty of Philology “Blazhe Koneski” at the University of St. Cyril and Methodij in Skopje.

Slavè Katin is married to Nada Nikolovska, maiden name Ivanova, born in Vinica, 1949. She is retired today, but she was an advisor for the Macedonian language in the Association for the development of education in the Republic of Macedonian in the Ministry of Education and Sciences of the Republic of Macedonia. Nada Nikolovska - Katin is an author of about twenty school books and other literature, and on more than twenty didactical school works of Macedonian language, which greatly contributes to the educational process in the schools in Macedonia. At the same time, her school works are affirmers and protectors of the Macedonian language and literature in Macedonia and abroad.

Nada and Slave Katin have two children: Their son Aleksandar,(who has the name of his grand father Alekso-Alek), born in Skopje, 1974, doctor of veterinary medicine – DVM, and their daughter Dafinka,(who has the name of her grand-grand mother Dafina) born in Stip, 1975, professor of English, Spanish and Macedonian languages. Aleksandar is married to Radmila Nikolovska, maiden name Crceva, born in Gostivar, 1974, Doctor of veterinary sciences. They have thre daughters, Sandra Nikolovska – Katin, born in Skopje, 2003, who carries the name of Slave Katin’s mother. On her 6th birthday, Katin published a monograph with Sandra’s drawings which she did in kindergarten, and photographs of her preschool period. The second daughter Kostadina (Dina) Nikolovska - Katin was born in Skopje, 2006. On her 6th birthday, Katin published a monograph with Dina’s drawings which she did in kindergarten, and photographs of her preschool period. The third one Nadya, who carries the name of Aleksandar’ mother, Nada, was born in 2016.

Dafinka is married to Gianpaolo Scatozza, known as Jippi, born in Rome. He finished Music at university in Rome, and is now a jazz musician and a teacher of music. They have two children, the daughter Isabel Katin - Scatozza was born in Toronto, 2006, and Massimo Katin - Scatozza, was born in Toronto, 2007. Also on their 6th birthday, Katin published two monograph with Izabel’s and Massimo`s drawings which they did, and photographs of their preschool period. Izabel I also an author of the the poetry book “The Rain“ which is written in the three languages Isabel communicates in her every day life: English, Macedonian and Italian. Upon her request the first book was launched in Ljubojno on August 2, 2017 on the Macedonian national holiday named Ilinden.

Finishing Technical school Slavè Katin worked as a surveyor for the Assembly of the Municipality of Resen for several years. During his studies in Belgrade, at the beginning of 1966 he went to Canada, where he remained for four years. In Toronto he attended the special Institute for English Language and Literature. For a while he worked as a surveyor, and was also active among the Macedonian colony in Toronto. In 1968 he spent a term as Secretary General of the church management of the Macedonian Orthodox Church of “St. Clement of Ohrid” in this city. At the same time he was active in the field of journalism, collaborating with the “Duhovna iskra” (Spiritual Spark) magazine in Toronto, and with other Macedonian printed and electronic media in Canada and the United States of America.

During the summer of 1970, under recommendation of the time being Yugoslav ambassador, his excellency Mitko Chalovski, Katin returned to Macedonia as a student of the Government of the Socialistic Republic of Macedonia, actually of the Association (Matica) of Immigrants of Macedonia. Together with a few students from Canada and Australia he had a status of a foreign student in Macedonia, with an aim to return to Canada.

However, in 1972 he got married with Nada Ivanova, a professor of Macedonian language and Literature, and he stayed to live in Macedonia, in the ancient Ohrid. After graduating from the Faculty of Philology and returning, Katin worked as coordinator and translator for the Hydro biological Institute in Ohrid for five years. This took place during the period of research on Lake Ohrid determined in the Agreement between the Institute and the Smithsonian Foundation in Washington. During this period he worked intensively on a number of translations of scientific and technical character, translating from Macedonian to English and vice versa for the needs of the Institute. He also worked on a series of English translations of scientific papers published in the country and abroad.

During the period 1979-1984 Nikolovski worked for the “Matica” or head office of the Macedonian emigrants where he headed the Information Service and worked as translator and journalist for the “Makedonija” (Macedonia) magazine. Between 1984 and 1990 he found himself at the National Conference of the Socialist Soyuz (Alliance) of the Working People of Macedonia (RK of SSRNM), where he edited the “Informative pregled” (Informative Summary) and other informative publications of this public organization. At the same time the executive council of RK of SSRNM appointed him head of the Information Service and secretary of the commission of RK SSRNM for interethnic relations and of the board for realization of the role of SSRNM in the sphere of religion and religious communities.

During the period 1991-1998, appointed by the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia as an independent state, Katin was Vice President of the National Commission for relations with the religious communities. In 1999 once again he returned to the “Matica” which had by now been transformed into the Ministry of Emigration, and following a reconstruction of the government, was again named into the Agency of Emigration. With the aim of devoting himself more intensively to the emigrants, in 2001 Katin left the Agency retiring early.

However, during the past twenty years after retirement, he has been active in the publishing business. As an editor-in-chief in one of the prestigious publishing houses – Makedonska iskra (Macedonian Spark) from Skopje, he has achieved great results in publishing, especially in publishing of school books. Slavè Katin has edited and published several hundred titles, out of which the greatest number are school books and didactical literature, which are a great contribution and achievement in the educational processes of the Republic of Macedonia and for the Macedonian pupils in the Diaspora, and which are proved by the Ministry of Education and Sciences of the Republic of Macedonia, a great number of books of the Macedonians, associations, organizations in Canada, USA, Australia and United Union, then books of well-known and unknown authors from Macedonia, as well as books by Slavè Katin.

As an official of the Government of the Republic of Macedonia, Slavè Katin has visited and has had talks with the heads of the Romanian, Ukrainian, Russian and Serbian Orthodox Churches. Slave Katin has also visited the Patriarchy in Tsarigrad (Istanbul) and the Vatican in Rome. Slave Katin was a member of the Republic of Macedonia's Delegation during Mother Teresa's funeral in Calcutta, India, and many time he traveled with delegations of the Macedonian Orthodox Church-Ohrid Archbishopric to Canada, the United States of America, Australia, and a number of European countries, Turkey and Israel.

Within his creative opus of works, starting from his first book, “English-Macedonian Limnological Dictionary” (1986) up to the present days, the following publicationsdeserve special attention: “Macedonians in the United States and Canada” (2002)(in Macedonian and English), “Macedonian Holocaust” (1990), “The Macedonian Orthodox Churches in Australia, Canada and the United States” (1991), “In Australia as at Home” (1992), “Macedonian Immigrant Press” (1993), “An Emigrant Desire” (1993), “Macedonian Immigrants Panopticon” (1996), ”Emigrant Horizons” (1999), “Atanas Bliznakoff” (2000), “My Travelings Around the World” (2001), “Ilinden 1903-2003 and the Macedonian Immigrants” (2003), “Immigrants Carousel” (2008), and “The World on the Palm” (2014), (in Macedonian). He is also the author of the publications “On the Tracks of Evliya Çelebi” (2007), (in Turkish), “Love Stories” (in English) “Macedonians in the World” (in English), and “A Postcard of Prespa” (in Macedonian).

In addition, special attention deserve the following monographs: “Andrea Branov” from Melbourne, Australia (in Macedonian and English) (2001), “The Family of Janovski” from Toronto, Canada (in Macedonian and English) (2002), “Svetle (Steve) Stamevski” from Detroit, US (in Macedonian and English) (2005), “Metropolitan Kirill” fromMacedonia (in Macedonian and English) (2007), “George Tomov” from New York, US (in Macedonian and English) (2007), “Bosko Rajchovski -Pelisterski” from Florida (in Macedonian and English) (2008), “Gorgija - George Atanasoski” from Florida (in Macedonian and English) (2012), “Atanas Bliznakoff” from Gary, US (in Macedonian and English) (2000/2017), “Esma Redzepova-Teodosievska” from Skopje (2016) (in English, Macedonian and Roma),“Goga Pechenkovski” from Resen (2004) and “Siljan Micevski” from Bitola(2015) (in Macedonian) as well as "Masedonian Imigration Meridians" (2017) (inMacedonian) and "Israel and Macedonia" (2017) (in English, Macedonian and Hebrew.

Slave Katin is also a co-author of the following publications: “The Contribution of Macedonia to the World Civilizisation” (2004), “From Panonia to the Aegean” (2007)(in Macedonian), with Academician Antonije Shkokljev-Doncho, PhD; “Macedonia in Ancient Time” (2010, and “The Balkans and Macedonia” (2014) (in English), withAcademician Antonije Shkokljev-Doncho, PhD and Risto Stefov, than “In Honor of St. Cyril and St. Methodij” (1994), “The Aureole of the Virgin Mary and St. Mary Monastry of Slivnica in Prespa” (2007), with Professor Vera Stojchevska-Antich, PhD “40 Pilgrimages in Front of the Grave of St. Cyril in Rome” (2008), (in Macedonian),with Professor Vera Stojchevska-Antich, PhD and the arcbishop Kliment, as well asof the books “Macedonian Exaltation” (1994), “Poetic Immigrant Meridians” (1995),and “The Macedonians in Hanburg (1978-1998)”, (1997), (in Macedonian) with FidankaTanaskova, then “Petar Stamatoff” from Chicago (2010) with Professor MetodijaTrajkovski, and “Ilinden in Ljubojno and Prespa” (2013) (in Macedonian and English)with Boshko Rajchovski - Pelisterski, as well as “Siljan Micevski” (2015) (in Macedonian)with Georgi Lumburovski.

He is also known for his children lexicographical publications “Let’s learn Macedonian and English” (1997) (in French, German, Vlah, Turkish, Albanian and Roma), with IsniaShaban, Liria Redzepi, Zaharitsa Porchu and Liatif Demir, the “English-Macedonian Biotechnical Dictionary” (1994), than the “English-Macedonian Veterinary Dictionary” (1996) with Professor Ilinka Drakulevska-Grubovich and Professor Nikola Jordanovski, “Biblical Dictionary” (1997), with Professor Petko Zlateski PhD (in Macedonian), and“Guide of the Computer Terminology” (2000) with Stevan Tomovski (in Macedonianand English).

Slave Nikolovski-Katin is also known for his numerous translations such as: “The Village of Nevoljani, District of Lerin” (1986) by Risto Kiradziev (in Macedonian andEnglish), then the translation of the ”Jubilee Edition of the 50th Anniversary of the Hydro-biological Institute of Ohrid” (1985),”Development and Nutrition of the Young

Cyprinids of Lake Ohrid” (1988), the doctoral disertation of Milcho Tochko, (from Macedonian into English), “Pages About Macedonia and the Macedonians” (1990) by Hristo Andonovski, “Macedonian Economic Directory” (1990) by Economic Chamber of Macedonia (from Macedonian into English), and vice-versa of other different scientific works. He is especially known for the translation of the novel “Alexander the Great” (1988) by Ulrich Wilken, (from English into Macedonian).

In addition to the 50 mentioned publications, Katin is an author of more than a hundred scientific papers of different fields, and of over 3.000 journalistic and other texts published in the Republic of Macedonia and in the world. Two books are published about Slave Katin: the monograph about his life and work entitled “Katin” (2004), (in Macedonian and English), and the book about his publicist activity titled “Macedonian Emigrants Portrait” (2004), (in Macedonian) by Borche Naumovski, former Minister of Culture of the Republic of Macedonia

Throughout his work and creative activities, he has published 60 publications, lexicographic editions, translations from Macedonian to English and vice versa, scientific papers, newspaper articles, etc. In addition, he is an author of around five thousand journalistic texts and serials, descriptive reports, reviews, and portraits, translations of literature, linguistics and culture in English and in Macedonian, as well as other texts and materials published in the country and abroad.