Radka Denemarková
Radka Denemarková is a Czech novelist, dramatist, TV screenplay writer, translator, and essayist from Kutná Hora.
Denemarková is the only Czech writer who has received the Magnesia Litera Award four times. Her works have been translated into 23 languages.
Life
Denemarková studied German and Czech at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University, gaining her doctorate in 1997. She worked as a researcher at the Institute for Czech Literature of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and was dramatic advisor at the Na zábradlí theatre in Prague. She has been freelance since 2004.She lives in Prague with daughter Ester and son Jan.
Books
Hodiny z olova . 2018. Brno: Host. 752pp..MY 2 / US 2. 2014. A literary original for the feature film.Příspěvek k dějinám radosti . 2014. A novel.Spací vady . 2012. A book edition of the theatre play.Kobold. Přebytky něhy & přebytky lidí . 2011. A double novel. Excerpts published in English.Smrt nebudeš se báti aneb příběh Petra Lébla . 2008. A documentary novel.Peníze od Hitlera . 2006. A novel.A já pořád kdo to tluče . 2005. A novel.Sám sobě nepřítelem . 1998. A book about the Czech theatre and film director Evald Schorm.Awards
- 2003 nominated for Alfred Radok Awards.
- 2005 Europäisches Festival des Debütromans in Kiel.
- 2007 Magnesia Litera award for the best prose work of the year.
- 2009 Magnesia Litera award for the best book in the category of journalism.
- 2009 nominated for Josef Škvorecký Award.
- 2009 nominated for the Angelus Central European Literary Award, Poland.
- 2011 Usedomer Literaturpreis awarded by German literary critics. Laudatio: Hellmuth Karasek.
- 2011 Magnesia Litera award for the best translation of Herta Müller’s Atemschaukel.
- 2011 nominated for Josef Škvorecký Award.
- 2012 Annual Mladá fronta Publishing House Award for the translation of Herta Müller’s Herztier.
- 2012 Georg Dehio Book Prize, Germany, Berlin. Laudatio: Andreas Kossert.
- 2012 nominated for the Czech Book Award 2012.
- 2012 nominated for the Most Beautiful Book Prize, International Book Fair in Frankfurt am Main.
- 2015 nominated for the Czech Book Award 2015.
- 2016 WALD Press AWARD.
- 2017 nominated for the International Literary Prize Kulturhuset Stadsteatern, Sweden.
- 2017 Graz City Writer 2017/2018, Graz, Austria
- 2019 Spycher: Literary Prize Leuk, Switzerland.
- 2019 H. C. Artmann Prize, Salzburg, Austria
- 2019 Magnesia Litera Prize in the category Czech Book of the Year.
- 2022 Literary Prize of the State of Styria, Austria
- 2022 Brücke Berlin Literature and Translation Prize, Germany
- 2024 Medal of Merit
Residences / Scholarships
- 2007 Lenka Reinerová scholarship, writer in residence, Wiesbaden, Germany.
- 2008 writer in residence, Berlin, Germany.
- 2010 writer in residence, Graz, Austria.
- 2011 writer in residence, Usedom, Germany.
- 2014 writer in residence, Škocjan on the Karst, Slovenia.
- 2017 writer in residence “Graz City Writer 2017/2018”, Graz, Austria.
- 2017 writer in residence, Leuk, Switzerland.
- 2020 writer in residence, Tainan Writers’ House, Taiwan.