Authors

Petr Kabeš was born on June 21, 1941, in Pardubice. After graduating with a degree in economics from the College of Economics in Prague, he worked in the field of information sciences. From 1966 he edited the literary monthly Sešity until it was shut down in 1969, and from 1971 he found work as a lifeguard, barkeep, night watchman, weather observer, etc. He was dismissed after signing Charter 77, at which point he took employment as a construction worker, night watchman, and well-sinker for the Agrostav enterprise. In the 1970s and ’80s Kabeš edited a number of samizdat anthologies and periodicals. He co-authored with Jiří Brabec, Jiří Gruša, and Jan Loptaka the Dictionary of Czech Writers, subtitled An Attempt at Reconstructing the History of Czech Literature. In 1988 he co-founded the Open Dialogue event in Brno, which was the first effort to bring together artists from the official and independent spheres. Petr Kabeš died on July 9, 2005.

The poet Tomáš Kafka was born on 20. 5. 1965. He enthusiastically uses football themes in his work. He is a translator of new names in German literature and has a long-standing interest in drama.

Originally an artistic metal and stone worker, Jiří Kahoun was born in Prague on 12. 3. 1942. Although he never left that mode of artistic production, he gradually began to devote more time to children’s literature. For over 20 years he worked for the magazine Sluníčko and he also writes for children’s TV. His most popular stories are about honey bears.

The fiction writer Václav Kahuda (real name Petr Kratochvíl) was born in Prague on 8 November 1965. Trained as a plasterer, he later did a series of menial jobs, including working as a night-watchman in the National Museum, mechanic, gravedigger and stoker. In the second half of the 1980s he helped to found the samizdat anthologies Branické almanachy (Braník Almanacs). He currently receives a disability pension and lives in Prague.

Jiří Kamen (born on March 28, 1951 in Kolín) is a cultural affairs commentator at the Czech Radio 3 − Vltava station, author of radio plays and documentaries, writer. Jiří Kamen studied at the Faculty of Arts at Palacký University in Olomouc, earning an M.A. in Fine Arts and joined Czechoslovak Radio in 1975. In 1989, J. Kamen became the programme director of literature and drama broadcasting of Czechoslovak Radio and from 1991 to 1993 he was director-general of Czech Radio 3 − Vltava. Member of the Association of Writers. Lives in Prague.

Eva Kantůrková was born on May 11, 1930, in Prague. Her mother was a writer and father a journalist. She worked as an editor before entering university. She later graduated from Charles University’s Faculty of Arts with a degree in philosophy and history. For a short time she worked at Czech Technical University in Prague (CTU) and in the Central Office for Book Culture in Czechoslovakia. As a dissident she was interned for ten months in 1981, and in 1985 she became spokeswoman for Charter 77. After 1989 she served for two years as a representative on the Czech National Council. Starting in 1998 she headed for several years the Department of Literature and Libraries at the Ministry of Culture. From 1994 to 1996 and again in autumn 2004 she served as president of the Writers’ Association. She lives in Prague.

The poet Zeno Kaprál was born in Brno on 19th October 1941. He has worked in many professions, the longest period being with Czech Insurance from 1966 until 1995. He now works for the Community of Moravian-Silesian Writers. The biographical notes for his books reveal that he is a passionate chess player. He lives in Brno and in Strmilov.

The poet and columnist Lubor Kasal was born in Prague on 24 January 1958. He studied engineering at the Czech Technical University, and then taught for a year at a primary school. In 1984, he completed a degree at the Faculty of Education, Charles University. He was later employed as an editor at the State Publishers of Technical Literature, from where he moved to the State Pedagogical Publishing House. In 1990 he became an editor of Tvar, a literary journal, and from 1993 to 2000 was its Editor-in-Chief. He also collaborated with the Surrealist revue Analogon. He lives in Prague.

Ivan Klíma was born on September 14, 1931 in Prague. During the Second World War he was interned for over three years in the Theresienstadt (Terezín) ghetto. He studied Czech and literary theory at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University, worked as an editor for several publishing houses and magazines; after his return from a year of teaching at the University if Michigan in 1969, he was forced by the Communist authorities to work at a variety of jobs. After 1989, he has generally made a living through his writing; in 1990–1993 he held the post of the chairman of the Czech centre of the PEN Club. During the 1970s and 1980s, he was a leading representative of literary opposition to the regime, among other activities helping to found the well-known samizdat publisher Petlice. In addition to novels and short stories, he has published an extensive selection of essays, journalism, and radio and theatre pieces, as well as work for children.

Of fundamental importance for Božena Klímová (born 13.12.1948 in Malé Heraltice) was her long-term friendship with the world-famous Australian writer Alan Marshall, and part of her literary and artistic output relating to this friendship has been kept by the Australian National Library in Canberra since 2000.

Erazim Kohák (born 21 May 1933 in Prague) is a Czech philosopher and writer. His early education was in Prague. After communists took over Czechoslovakia in 1948, his family escaped to the United States. Kohak has said the Eastern Europe need not "fear from a Russia in the ascendant."

Writer and playwright Pavel Kohout was born 20th July 1928 in Prague. There have been plenty of opportunities for discussion and even dispute about his life and writings, even about his personality. He worked as a cultural attaché in Moscow from 1949 to 1950, was editor-in-chief of the Czech satirical magazine Porcupine (Dikobraz; 1951-1952), editor of the magazine Czech Soldier (Český voják) and editor and analyst of the Czechoslovak TV Company (to 1956). Kohout has worked as a freelance writer since 1961.

Novelist Tomáš Kolský was born in Prague on 3rd April 1978. He studied at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Charles University; he now studies Hebrew and Linguistics at the Faculty of Arts of the same university. He lives in Prague.

Czech prose-writer and essayist. He was born on 6 August 1958 in Jindřichův Hradec, South Bohemia, and took a degree in biology at the Faculty of Biological Sciences of Charles University, Prague. He was briefly employed at the Institute of Parasitology of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences in České Budějovice, after which he opted for exile in Austria. He lived there as an émigré from 1983 to 1990, working in Vienna first at the Museum of Natural History, later at the Austrian Ministry of Agriculture and ultimately at the Institute of Zoology of Vienna University.

He was born in Prostějov on October 12th 1939; he spent his early childhood in Uhřičice u Kojetína and from 1945 he lived with his mother (his father was killed in May of the same year) in Zábřeh na Moravě. He graduated from the Industrial Film School in Čimelice and then in 1963 studied dramatic art at FAMU (Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague).

The poet and artist Miroslav Koryčan (also known under the alias of Korýš) was born on 6. 6. 1938 in Předmost. He is one of the few Czech Beatniks whose creations do not respect any rules as he completely lives the life of an outsider. For many years he has been living in Středokluky u Kladna in a farm which the sculptorAleš Veselý transformed into a studio and remarkable gallery in the 1970s.

Pavel Kosatík was born in Boskovice on the 13th of June 1962. He graduated from the Prague Faculty of Law (1984), worked as an editor in several publishing houses and for the editorial board of the newspapers Mladá fronta Dnes and Hospodářské noviny and the magazine Reflex.

In her specialist work and editorial activities Eva Koudelková (born 6. 3. 1949 in Náchod) concentrates mainly on the Liberec and Náchod areas, where her main themes are the popular narratives of the Czech and German inhabitants of both regions, particularly in their relationship to literature.

The poet and columnist Jaroslav Kovanda was born in Zlín on 26 February 1941. He was educated in Gottwaldov (today, Zlín) and then at a school of applied arts in Uherské Hradiště. He made a living as a teacher, proofreader, stagehand, stoker, stage manager and stage designer. In 1997, he began publishing and working as Editor-in-Chief of Psí víno (Virginia Creeper), a journal of contemporary poetry. He is active also as a painter, sculptor and typographer, and lives in Zlín.

The poet and prose writer Milan Kozelka was born in 1948 in Kyselka u Karlových Varů: he studied at the university of life, after which he applied himself to the arts (performance, action, land-art, happening, minimalism, etc) and in the 1990s to managerial and editorial work.

Poet, fiction writer, essayist and translator, Petr Král was born in Prague on 4 September 1941. He took a degree in dramaturgy from the Academy of Performing Arts (FAMU), Prague, and later became an editor at Orbis publishers, in charge of the Film and Filmmakers series. In the wake of the Soviet-led intervention of August 1968 he left for France, where he found employment in a gallery and a photo-laboratory; later, he was an editor in the Gallimard publishing house. He has also worked as an interpreter, translator, screenwriter and reviewer. In 1984 he lived in Québec, Canada. In 1990–91 he was the Czechoslovak cultural attaché in France. He translates into French, mainly modern Czech verse, and has edited a number of poetry anthologies. In 2010 he became the Commander of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Since 2006 he has been living in Prague.

Fiction writer, playwright, essayist and critic, Jiří Kratochvil was born in Brno on 4 January 1940. He took a degree in Czech and Russian Studies at Brno and later worked as a secondary-school teacher, librarian, archivist, crane-operator, hired hand, night-watchman, telephone operator, stoker, conservationist of historical monuments and editor in the Brno offices of Czech Radio. For his literature he has won the Tom Stoppard Prize (1991), the Czech Booksellers’ and Literární noviny prizes (both 1993), the Egon Hostovský Prize (1996), the Karel Čapek Prize (1998) and the Jaroslav Seifert Prize (1999). He is currently self-employed, and lives in Moravský Krumlov.

The poet, prose writer and screenwriter Miloš Kratochvíl was born on January 6th 1948 in Černošice, where he still lives. From 1971 he was the editor of the sports magazine Stadion [Stadium] and in the 1980s he turned exclusively to screenwriting and literature, which today is aimed mainly at children.

The writer Ivan Kraus, author of humorous short stories, plays and television scripts, was born on March 1, 1939 in Prague. After passing his leaving examination at grammar school, he graduated from college with a degree in International Economics. As an actor and author, he was active in several smaller, primarily cabaret-type theatres in Prague. Kraus emigrated with his wife and daughter in 1968. Since 1971 he has worked in Germany as a radio and television scriptwriter, performed using puppets and as a novelist. In 1976, he moved to France. At the moment he lives in both France and the Czech Republic.

The poet Jiří H. Krchovský (real name Jiří Hásek) was born in Prague on 22 April 1960, and later trained there as a mason. He has not been employed since 1977. He lives between Prague and Brno.

The poet, fiction writer and journalist Vít Kremlička was born in Prague on 22 October 1962. After graduating from a middle school for future teachers, he took a course in special education at Charles University in Brandýs nad Labem and then Czech and Comparative Literature at Prague, but finished neither. In the 1980s he was a member of music groups called ‘Národní třída’ and ‘His Boys’, and also helped to start up the arts and culture magazine Revolver Revue and the political weekly Respekt. Now a freelance writer, he lives in Prague.

The writer Eda Kriseová was born on July 18th 1940 in Prague. She studied journalism at Charles University. She became an editor for the magazine Mladý svět. From 1965-1968 she volunteered to take part in several projects for international organisations in developing countries and then published stories of her journeys in Mladý svět.

Poet, literary critic, historian and university teacher, Vladimír Křivánek was born to the family of a clerical worker on 7 May 1951 in the Czech town, Kolín. After graduating from secondary school, he worked briefly as an assistant in a second-hand bookstore. From 1969 to 1974, he studied Czech and History at the Faculty of Education, Charles University, Prague. 1974 to 1976, he taught as a primary school teacher in Kladno. From 1977, he worked in the Institute of Czech and World Literature of the Academy of Sciences in Prague, first as a bibliographer then as an assistant in the section for the history of Czech literature. He received a PhD. degree in philosophy at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University, where he successfully defended his thesis To the Problem of Historicism in Pre-March Czech Literature. Later he specialized in Romanticism and the life and work of Czech poet and prose writer Karel Hynek Mácha. In the 1980s, Křivánek published books on Jan Neruda (1983) and Karel Hy

Josef Kroutvor, born in Prague on 30 March 1942, is an essayist, art historian, fiction writer and poet. He read philosophy, history and art history at Charles University. From 1968 he was at the University of Besanćon, and from 1970 he worked at the Museum of Decorative Arts, Prague, as a specialist in the history of the poster; since 1993 he has headed the Department of Applied Graphic Art and Photography. In 1990 he spent a period studying at the Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna. During 1990–92 he lectured externally on the history of the poster and advertising at the College of Arts and Crafts and the Faculty of Social Sciences of Charles University, Prague. His interests are art photography, design, architecture, and the sociology of culture. He lives in Prague.

The critic, editor and prose writer Robert Krumphanzl was born in Prague in 1973. He graduated from the Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University; from 1992-1994 he was sub-editor of the review Souvislosti. In 1994 he co-founded the publishing company Triáda, which he currently manages.

The writer Marie Kubátová, maiden name Kutinová, was born on August 8th 1922 in Prague. Both her parents were involved in literature: her father wrote physical education texts and until 1948 ran a publishing firm which concentrated on texts for the Sokol movement and ethnic publications; her mother Amálie Kutinová was the author of popular books for children (the autobiographical cycle Gabra and Málinka) and an enthusiastic folklorist.

The poet and cultural historian Jiří Kuběna was born Jiří Paukert in Prostějov on May 31st 1936. He spent his childhood and went to secondary school in Hanspaulec in Prague. In 1948 the family moved to Brno to be with the father, a pilot and officer in the Czechoslovak army, soon to be demoted to reserve private.

Prose-writer and journalist Karel Kuna (b. June 20, 1970, Prague) graduated from the Faculty of Natural Sciences of Charles University (1988–1994, molecular biology) and the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics ( 1992–1996, logic). He was briefly employed as a correspondent for the Czech Press Agency and an editor of the journal Literární noviny. Since 2000, he has been working as a translator from English and free-lance journalist, as well as being employed as an editor with the publishing house Fragment. He currently lives in Prague.

The writer and translator Ludvík Kundera was born on 22 March, 1920 in Brno. His uncle was the pianist and music teacher Ludvík Kundera. Milan Kundera, the world famous novelist and essayist, is his cousin. A grammar school graduate, Kundera started his university studies at the Faculty of Arts at Charles University in Prague (Czech and German Studies), and then at the Faculty of Arts at Masaryk University in Brno. During WWII, he was a worker and in 1943, he had to work for the German Reich in the German town of Spandau. After the war, Kundera was a member of the editorial board of magazines The Block (Blok), Equality (Rovnost) and The Guest in the House (Host do domu). Since 1955, he has been a freelance writer and translator. The only exception was in the late 1960s, when he worked as an advisor for the State Theatre in Brno. Since 1976, Ludvík Kundera has lived in the Moravian town of Kunštát. L. Kundera died on 17th August 2010.

Milan Kundera (born April 1, 1929, in Brno, Czechoslovakia) is a Czech and French writer of Czech origin who has lived in exile in France since 1975, where he became a naturalized citizen in 1981. He is best known as the author of The Unbearable Lightness of Being, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, and The Joke.