Markéta Pilátová

Markéta Pilátová

Writer, journalist, author of children’s books, translator and Hispanic expert, she has twice been nominated for the Josef Škvorecký Award and for the Magnesia Litera, her books have been translated into German, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish. She was born in Kroměříž on 1 February 1973.


Title Publisher Year Selected published translations Awards
Diviner (Senzibil) Torst 2020
How the Baťa Brothers Shod the World (Jak bratři Baťové obouvali svět ) Nadační fond Jana Antonína Bati 2020
What the Gorilla Said (Co vyprávěla Gorila) Novela bohemica 2019 BG
In the Jungle with Baťa (S Baťou v džungli) Torst 2017 DE | IT | PL
The Hero from Madrid (Hrdina od Madridu) Pikador Books 2016 NL | DE
Round Frames of Words (Kulaté rámy slov) Pavel Ševčík - VEDUTA 2015
Tsunami blues Torst 2014 DE | ES
The Gorilla´s Dad (Gorilí táta) NOVELA BOHEMICA 2013
Jura and Lama (Jura a lama) LePress 2012
Capturing the Wind (Zatýkání větru) Větrné mlýny 2011 PT
Víla Vivivíla and the Pirates of the South Sea (Víla Vivivíla a piráti jižního moře) Nakladatelství Lidové noviny 2010
Kiko and the Secret of the Paper Butterfly (Kiko a tajemství papírového motýla) Meander 2010
Víla Vivivíla and the Animal Shadows (Víla Vivivíla a stíny zvířat) Nakladatelství Lidové noviny 2009
My Most Beloved Book (Má nejmilejší kniha) Torst 2009 BG | NL | DE
The Yellow Eyes Will Lead You Home (Žluté oči vedou domů) Torst 2007 IT | BG | ES | NL | PL | DE
Diviner
Senzibil
How the Baťa Brothers Shod the World
Jak bratři Baťové obouvali svět
What the Gorilla Said
Co vyprávěla Gorila
In the Jungle with Baťa
S Baťou v džungli
The Hero from Madrid
Hrdina od Madridu
Round Frames of Words
Kulaté rámy slov
The Gorilla´s Dad
Gorilí táta
Jura and Lama
Jura a lama
Zatýkání větru
Capturing the Wind
Zatýkání větru
Víla Vivivíla and the Pirates of the South Sea
Víla Vivivíla a piráti jižního moře
Kiko a tajemství papírového motýla
Kiko and the Secret of the Paper Butterfly
Kiko a tajemství papírového motýla
Víla Vivivíla a stíny zvířat
Víla Vivivíla and the Animal Shadows
Víla Vivivíla a stíny zvířat
My Most Beloved Book
Má nejmilejší kniha
The Yellow Eyes Will Lead You Home
Žluté oči vedou domů
Praise
Four women, one man, two continents, two generations, two cultures and two dictatorships — Markéta Pilátová has included quite a lot in her debut novel [The Yellow Eyes Will Lead You Home]. Yet it all works well together due to the author’s skilled use of language.
—Sabine Berking
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

She studied Latin, Romance studies and history at Palacký University’s Faculty of Arts in Olomouc, where she subsequently worked as a lecturer. She was in charge of the foreign section of the weekly magazine Respekt. She alternates between living in the Czech Republic and in South America (Argentina, Brazil), where she teaches Czech to the descendants of Czech emigrants.

Her debut novel Žluté oči vedou domů (The Yellow Eyes Will Lead You Home) was published in 2007 by Torst, and is the story of four women and one man, who alternate as narrators. At a central stage in the women’s lives appears the charismatic Jaromír, who will leave an indelible mark on their lives. Here the setting is Pílatová’s community of Brazilian emigrants – the parents have cut off their roots, but due to the fall of communism their children have the possibility to choose the direction of their lives. Two years later Torst published Pílatová’s Má nejmilejší kniha (My Most Beloved Book). Once again this extensive saga combines narrative voices, but this is augmented by its construction: we hear the the views of Toho the tattooist and Hare the snake, which lends a magical feel to this Argentinian setting filled with drug lords, snake venom, slums and jungles. Markéta Pilátová was nominated for the Magnesia Litera and the Josef Škvorecký Award for both of these books.

Five years later Pilátová wrote her third novel for adults, Tsunami Blues, again published by Torst. It takes place alternately in the Czech Republic, in Thailand during a tsunami and in Cuba. “The dirty sound from the trumpet is not down to the embouchure, or the tone, or the colour, nothing like that. You only get dirty from great things. From the blue Cuban sky and your own fear,” says one of the main characters. There is a central trio – the trumpeter Karla, her music teacher and Professor Jenůfa Topinková.

As well as prose, Pilátová has also written poetry, Zatýkání větru (Capturing the Wind, Větrné mlýny, 2011), and children’s stories. She received acclaim for Víla Vivivíla a stíny zvířat (Víla Vivivíla and the Animal Shadows, NLN, 2009), the sequel Víla Vivivíla a piráti jižního moře (Víla Vivivíla and the Pirates of the South Sea, NLN, 2010), Kiko a tajemství papírového motýla (Kiko and the Secret of the Paper Butterfly, NLN, 2010) and Gorilí táta (The Gorilla’s Dad, Novela Bohemica, 2013). She is also the author of the children’s stories Jura a lama (Jura and Lama, LePress, 2012) about a boy who has two mothers. She writes for several national periodicals including Salon Právo, Respekt, Lidové noviny and Czech Radio. She also translates from Spanish and English.