Launching SlovakLiterature.com
A curated site for Slovak literature in English.
Registration is now open for the one-day conference at UCL SSEES, London, on November 5th, 2019.
Uršuľa Kovalyk, Dušan Mitana, and Richard Pupala
in the Central European Short Story Issue
Looking back at the season of Slovak literature and arts in the UK in October and November 2019.
On February 10th, 2020, Pavel Vilikovský,
one of Slovakia’s most prominent writers,
passed away at the age of 78.
Ivana Dobrakovová’s book has been longlisted for the EBRD Literature Prize 2020.
Congratulations to Mila Haugová and her translator,
James Sutherland-Smith, on their latest collection
of poetry in English, released by Arc Publications.
Book of the Year, Slovakia's take on European Literature Night, and more
In This Together: Writers From Around the World Respond to the COVID-19 Outbreak
The Centre for Information on Literature has a new website in English called Books from Slovakia
Slovak poet Mila Haugová is this year’s winner of the Vilenica Prize for Central European Literature.
"A Sentimental Education in March" by Pavel Vilikovský, translated and with an introduction by Charles Sabatos.
In Lit_cast Slovakia #6, translator Jonathan Gresty talks about going native in Slovakia, and much more.
Read the latest review of Ivana Dobrakovová’s award-winning novel in World Literature Today.
Read an excerpt from Forro’s account of the Ukrainian conflict, translated by Magdalena Mullek.
In Lit_cast Slovakia #7, literature scholar Katarína Gephardt discusses her plans for a Companion to Contemporary Slovak Literature.s
Translations of 5 Slovak poets, and an interview with writer and translator Lucia Duero.
In Lit_cast Slovakia #8, writer and journalist
Michael Stein talks about the Central European
literary sensibility.
In Lit_cast Slovakia #9, Nataša Ďurovičová talks about exile as the point of no return.
“Slovakia is clinically depressed.”
Find out why in this review of Balla's Big Love.
In Lit_cast Slovakia #10, James Sutherland-Smith talks about why translating prose is more difficult than translating poetry.
Julia Sherwood talks about a children’s book that teaches children to understand disability and accept otherness.
In 2021/2022 Seagull Books will kick off its Slovak List
with books by Monika Kompaníková, Jana Bodnárová, Irena Brežná, and Zuzana Cigánová.
In Lit_cast Slovakia #11, Slovak poet and translator Mária Ferenčuhová talks about cooperative translation
of poetry.
featuring excerpts from works by Gejza Vámoš, Pavel Vilikovský, and Zuska Kepplová.
In Lit_cast Slovakia #12, Sarah Hinlicky Wilson talks about the forgotten gems of Slovak literature.
In Lit_cast Slovakia #13, Marie-Theres Cermann talks about why she believes the plight of refugees remains relevant even during the pandemic.
Listen to Slovak poet Mária Ferenčuhová read her poetry in this virtual event.
In Lit_cast Slovakia #14, Ľudmila Pánisová talks about the need to treat the source text with respect.
Photo by David Konečný. Used with permission.
Michael Stein reviews Pavol Rankov's soon-to-be-published novel, It Happened on the First of September (or Some Other Time), translated by Magdalena Mullek, in Versopolis Review.
Julia Sherwood talks with LIC about the four books selected for Seagull Books’ Slovak List.
Photo from Pravda by Robert Hüttner. Used with permission.
In Lit_cast Slovakia #15, translator John Minahane reads from his translations of Slovak writers.
In Lit_cast Slovakia #16, writer and translator Lucia Duero talks about navigating the cultural differences between Slovakia and Mexico.
In Lit_cast Slovakia #17, writer and editor Mária Modrovich talks about navigating Slovak literature through the website Books from Slovakia.
Pavol Rankov’s It Happened on the First of September (or Some Other Time), translated by Magdalena Mullek, now available from Slavica Publishers.
for his novel It Happened on the First of September (or Some Other Time).
In Lit_cast Slovakia #18, literature scholar Ivana Taranenková introduces a forthcoming English-language guide to contemporary Slovak literature.
Read an excerpt from the recently published English translation by Magdalena Mullek.
Read the short story “Intimate Distance” translated by Julia and Peter Sherwood.
In Lit_cast Slovakia #19, literary critic Peter F. 'Rius Jílek shares his experience of being on the jury of Anasoft Litera.
In Lit_cast Slovakia #20, Polish translator and theater director Kasia Dudzic-Grabińska talks about how she combines literary translation with theater work.
In Lit_cast Slovakia #21, award-winning writer and journalist Irena Brežná talks about rebelling against the dogma of writing in her native language.
In Lit_cast Slovakia #22, Hungarian literary organizer Éva Karádi talks about championing Slovak literature.
Remembering Ladislav Grossman, Pavol Rankov wins the European Book Prize 2020, publisher Koloman Kertész Bagala, and more.
In Lit_cast Slovakia #23, literature scholar Ivana Hostová talks about why publishing poetry in translation is challenging even in a translation-dominated culture such as Slovakia.
A discussion of Central European Literature for young readers.
“Into the Spotlight: New Writing from Slovakia offers an interesting and efficient way to sample some of the best contemporary Slovak writers.”
In the 25th episode of Lit_cast Slovakia, scholar and translator David Short talks about some of the staggering number of books he has translated.
Featuring Boat Number Five by Monika Kompaníková and Necklace/Choker by Jana Bodnárová.
In Lit_cast Slovakia #26, translator Tünde Mészáros talks about the importance of musicality in translation.
In Lit_cast Slovakia #27, writer Monika Kompaníková talks about the universal appeal of her novel Boat Number Five.
Vertigo Fest – Poetry Without Borders, BRaK literary festival, Literafest, Pohoda, and more
In Lit_cast Slovakia #28, translator and journalist Tomáš Hučko talks about the joys and challenges of translating John Fante, Henry David Thoreau, and John Steinbeck.
Michael Stein reviews Viliam Klimáček's The Hot Summer of 1968, translated by Peter Petro.
Viliam Klimáček's The Hot Summer of 1968 translated by Peter Petro, now available from Mandel Vilar Press and Dryad Press.
In Lit_cast Slovakia #29, deputy director of Karolinum Press Martin Janeček talks about bringing Czech books to foreign audiences and reveals plans for a new Modern Slovak Classics series.
“The novel brilliantly allows us to sympathize with all sides—and to recognize just what a challenge mutual understanding is…”
Month of Authors’ Readings, Pohoda, and other literary events
Julia Sherwood rejoices with her producer, Peter Michalik, in the show’s 30th and final episode.
Reprinted with permission of CSAGSI and the author
“It is that tension between constraint and freedom, reality and fantasy, the plans you made for your life and the life that you end up living that makes this such a compelling read.”
My Seven Lives: Jana Juráňová in Conversation with Agneša Kalinová, translated by Julia and Peter Sherwood, now available from Purdue University Press
Boat Number Five translated by Janet Livingstone and Necklace/Choker translated by Jonathan Gresty now available from Seagull Books
Jana Bodnárová and Monika Kompaníková now on SlovakLiterature.com
“…she does skillfully recall, through the eyes of the protagonists, a lost time which cannot be recreated…”
Rosie Goldsmith interviews the poet about her collection “Threatened Species” and more
A selection from Contemporaneities translated by Ivana Hostová
Barbora Hrínová wins the Anasoft Litera Award, new Slovak titles in English, and much more
An Interview with Barbora Hrínová, winner of Anasoft Litera 2021
An Interview with literary organizer František Malík on the Asymptote blog
Read an excerpt from “In Front of the Mirror” translated by Julia Sherwood
Michael Kopanic reviews Pavol Rankov's It Happened
on the First of September (or Some Other Time)
“In My Seven Lives moments of high drama and tragedy co-exist effortlessly with everyday life.”
photo by Štefánia Kažimírová
Slovak author Richard Pupala is one of this year's nominees for the European Union Prize for Literature.
Ivana Hostová on the neural network “poet” Liza Gennart
Written by Monika Kompaníková, translated by Janet Livingstone, published by Seagull Books
An excerpt from Richard Pupala's book translated by Julia Sherwood
“A translator has to be a writer, painter, and empath.”
“Writers whose languages are ‘small’ are at a huge disadvantage.”
But Crime Does Punish by Ján Johanides, translated by Julia and Peter Sherwood, published by Karolinum Press
Mothers and Truckers by Ivana Dobrakovová, translated by Julia and Peter Sherwood, published by Jantar
A literary controversy, Author's Reading Month, and much more
A review of Ivana Dobrakovová's Mothers and Truckers by Anna West
Irena Brežná’s The Thankless Foreigner, translated by Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp, published by Seagull Books
Zuzana Cigánová's Vanity Unfair, translated by Magdalena Mullek, published by Seagull Books
Rudolf Dobiáš’s A Long Night’s Stories, translated
by Heather Trebatická and John Minahane, now published
by Mount Orleans Press
Marek Vadas’s The Healer, translated by Julia and Peter Sherwood, published by Seagull Books
Gustáv Reuss's The Science of the Stars, translated by David Short, published by Jantar Publishing
Zuska Kepplová's The Moon in Foil, translated by Magdalena Mullek, published by Seagull Books