The last, paramount part of a loose trilogy of poetry with loneliness at home as its theme.

Poetry  |  English sample translation available

The sixth collection of poems by Milan Děžinský, Walking Around an Island, cements the leading position of this author from the younger generation of poets in the context of Czech poetry. In his collection of poems from 2011 to 2016, the author stays in his own exclusive domain: creating strong, mature poems, “shields against emptiness”, from inconspicuous, simple starting moments. The expressivity of these poems is not straightforward, which makes them more impressive. The central image of an island to be inhabited and turned into a home runs throughout the book.

Milan Děžinský (1974) is a Czech poet and translator. He studied pedagogy of Czech and English Languages at The University of J.E. Purkyně in Ústí nad Labem. He is the author of eight poetry collections. His sixth book of poems Obcházení ostrova (Walking Around an Island, 2017) won the Magnesia Litera Award for poetry. In 2014, he was nominated for the German-Czech Dresden Lyrics Prize and in 2016, he became the first laureate of the international Václav Burian Prize for poetry. He translates poems from English and lives in Roudnice nad Labem, where he is also engaged in politics.