Gerald Turner

Gerald Turner (born in England, 1947) has been translating Czech literature since the late 1970s. During the 1980s he translated leading Czech authors, including Václav Havel, Ludvík Vaculík, Milan Šimečka, and Ivan Klíma, under the pen-name of A.G.Brain. From 1985 to 1990 he was sole translator for the Documentation Centre for the Promotion of Independent Czechoslovak Literature (Scheinfeld, Bavaria). His published translations include novels, short stories, and plays. His translation of Ivan Klíma’s novel No Saints or Angels was shortlisted for the Weidenfeld Translation Prize of the British Translators’ Association in 2002, and his translation of Patrik Ouředník’s Europeana received the US Pen Translation Award in 2004. In recent years his translations of works on theology have been favourably received, particularly in the United States, where his translation of Tomáš Halík’s Patience with God was awarded the best theological book prize for 2009-10. He was private translator to President Václav Havel (2004-2011).

Email
turner.gerald@gmail.com
Language
English
Writing Underground: Reflections on Samizdat Literature in Totalitarian Czechoslovakia
Writing Underground: Reflections on Samizdat Literature in Totalitarian Czechoslovakia
Martin Machovec
A Czech Dreambook
Ludvík Vaculík
Lord Mord
Miloš Urban
The Other City
Michal Ajvaz
Patience With God
Tomáš Halík
Lovers for a Day
Ivan Klíma
Judge On Trial
Ivan Klíma

Title Author Year Publisher Awards
Writing Underground: Reflections on Samizdat Literature in Totalitarian Czechoslovakia (Writing Underground: Reflections on Samizdat Literature in Totalitarian Czechoslovakia) Martin Machovec 2019 Karolinum
A Czech Dreambook Ludvík Vaculík 2019 Karolinum Press
Three Faces of an Angel Jiří Pehe 2014 Jantar Publishing
Lord Mord Miloš Urban 2013 Peter Owen
The Other City Michal Ajvaz 2009 Dalkey Archive Press
Patience With God Tomáš Halík 2009 Doubleday
Europeana: A Brief History of the Twentieth Century Patrik Ouředník 2005 Dalkey Archive Press
No Saints or Angels Ivan Klíma 2002 Grove Press
Lovers for a Day Ivan Klíma 1999 Grove Press
The Ultimate Intimacy Ivan Klíma 1997 Grove Press
Bringing Up Girls in Bohemia Michal Viewegh 1997 Readers International
Judge On Trial Ivan Klíma 1994 Vintage