Ivan Goran Kovačić (pronounced [ǐʋan ɡǒran kǒʋatʃitɕ]; 21 March 1913 – 12 July 1943) was a Croatian poet and writer.

He was born in Lukovdol (part of Vrbovsko), a town in Gorski Kotar, to a Croat father, Ivan Kovačić, and Transylvanian Jewish mother Ruža (née Klein).

Kovačić was killed by Serbian Chetnik troops in an east-Bosnian village of Vrbica near Foča on 13 July 1943.

Fascism did not look on poets or scientists anywhere in the world as being of value.”[4] Death is a central theme in much of Kovačić's poetry,[5] however this is not a reflection on his life outlook.

[citation needed] The poem starts with a striking metaphor of blood replacing both light and darkness as victim's eyes were plucked out with a knife.