Authors

An author of prose fiction, verse and journalism, Eduard Vacek was born in Hradec Králové on 20 April 1947. Having completed his education at a secondary technical college in Hradec Králové he worked as an electrical engineer and in the research and development divisions of various companies. In 1990–92 he was an MP, and from 1993 he was employed in the public-relations department of the Czech Prisons Service. In 1994–98 he studied social pedagogy at the School of Special Education in Most. In 1982 he founded the Teplice College of Pataphysics, and since 1994 he has edited the pataphysical journal Clinamen. He lives in Teplice and Prague.

Writer and journalist Ludvík Vaculík was born in Brumov near Valašské Klobouky on July 23, 1926. He attended a two-year shoe-making vocational school (1941 - 1943) as well as a foreign trade college (1944-1946); between 1946-1950 he studied at the Faculty of Political Science and Journalism at the University of Political Science and Social Affairs in Prague. During the 1950s, he was employed as a pedagogue and later as a staff member of the publishing house Rudé právo and the weekly magazine Beseda venkovské rodiny. In 1958, he moved to Czechoslovak Radio where he primarily focused on reporting; between 1965-1969, he worked in the weekly Literární noviny (subsequently renamed Literární listy and Listy). Following the ban of this magazine, he continued working as a freelancer. During the 1970s and 80s, Vaculík actively participated at the inception and development of samizdat – as an author, editor and publisher (Petlice editions, Obsah magazine). He re-entered official public life and literature after 1989.

A writer of fiction and verse, Bohuslav Vaněk-Úvalský (real name Bohuslav Vaněk) was born in Prague on 13 February 1970. He attended the School of Printing. In 1993 he founded Krásné nakladatelství, whose modest publications include a number of his own works. He first worked for advertising agencies, then as an editor for Redhot magazine. Since 2002 he has been an editor on the daily Mladá Fronta Dnes. He lives in Prague.

The writer Jaroslav Vejvoda was born on 13th September 1940 in Prague. His real name is Jaroslav Marek; he published work under that name until he went into exile. After graduating from the Faculty of Law at Charles University in Prague, he worked as a lawyer, and in September 1968 he emigrated to Switzerland, where he studied at the University of Bern and worked as a librarian; from 1975 he lived in Zurich and made his living as a media analyst, lecturer and television documentalist.

The prose writer Michal Viewegh was born in Prague on 31st March 1962. He graduated in Czech and Education from the Faculty of Arts of Charles University, Prague. He worked as a primary-school teacher and an editor for a publishing house, and since 1995 has been a full-time writer. He lives in Prague and in Sázava nad Sázavou.

The lyricist, poet, writer, singer and showman Jan Vodňanský was born in Prague on 19th June 1941. He graduated from the faculty of engineering and philosophy, and since 1974 he has worked freelance. In the 90s he lectured in philosophy at Charles University in Prague. In 1964 he began to perform in “text-appeal” oriented programmes in partnership with Petr Skoumal, and later he also collaborated with other partners. He lives in Prague.

The fiction writer and poet Ivo Vodseďálek was born in Prague on 8 August 1931. After completing secondary school he became a builder and mechanic and was employed during 1953–88 as a designer at Chemoprojekt. In 1965 he founded the Prague Balloon Club and oversaw the construction of a number of gas balloons. He retired in 1988. In 1949 he and the writer Egon Bondy launched the first series of samizdat in the then socialist Czechoslovakia, the Edici Půlnoc (Midnight Series). Besides writing, he has also engaged in graphic art, especially collage, exhibiting in Bohemia and abroad. He lives in Prague and Vysoké nad Jizerou.

The writer and columnist Václav Vokolek was born on 1st January 1947 in Děčín as the son of the Catholic essayist and writer of literature Vladimír Vokolek. After his secondary-school studies and unfinished university studies, he worked as a castle caretaker, a museum employee and later a restorer of artworks, mostly in northern Bohemia; in 1975 he opted to work as a freelancer.

The Jewish Czech writer, traveller and journalist Martin Vopěnka (born 1963) studied nuclear and physical Engineering at the Czech Technical University, but only because the communist regime prevented him from studying in the humanities.

Jan Vrak (real name Tomáš Koudela), who writes both fiction and verse, was born in Karviná on 6 August 1967. He attended grammar school at Havířov (1981–85), going on to the Faculty of Science, the Palacký University, Olomouc, and the Faculty of Education, the University of Ostrava, though he never graduated. At the turn of the 1980s and 1990s he was an editor on a Havířov review, later of a book series and finally at the M.U.K.L. publishing house. In 1991 he co-founded Votobia publishers, Olomouc, of which he is still co-proprietor. He lives at Náklo near Olomouc.