Iva Pekárková (born February 15, 1963)"Iva Pekarkova." In ''Contemporary Authors Online''. Detroit: Gale, 2005. ''Literature Resource Center'' (accessed April 20, 2017) is a

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

-born

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

who started writing and publishing novels after moving to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Her novels are inspired by her various life experiences and she writes openly about sexuality, making her controversial in her native country. Most of her novels are originally written in

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

. Pekárková was born in Prague in what was then

communist Czechoslovakia The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, ČSSR, formerly known from 1948 to 1960 as the Czechoslovak Republic or Fourth Czechoslovak Republic, was the official name of Czechoslovakia from 1960 to 29 March 1990, when it was renamed the Czechoslovak ...

to the physicist Luděk Pekárek and the chemist Květa (Suchomelová) Pekárková. She attended

Charles University ) , image_name = Carolinum_Logo.svg , image_size = 200px , established = , type = Public, Ancient , budget = 8.9 billion CZK , rector = Milena Králíčková , faculty = 4,057 , administrative_staff = 4,026 , students = 51,438 , undergr ...

from 1981 to 1985, where she studied

microbiology Microbiology () is the scientific study of microorganisms, those being unicellular (single cell), multicellular (cell colony), or acellular (lacking cells). Microbiology encompasses numerous sub-disciplines including virology, bacteriology, prot ...

and

virology Virology is the Scientific method, scientific study of biological viruses. It is a subfield of microbiology that focuses on their detection, structure, classification and evolution, their methods of infection and exploitation of host (biology), ...

and began writing fiction. In 1985, she defected to Austria and immigrated to the United States after spending a year in a refugee camp. In the US she held a number of occupations in New York City, including working as social worker in the

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

and driving a limousine and a

Yellow Cab Yellow cab taxicab operators exist all around the world (some with common heritage, some without). The original Yellow Cab Company, based in Chicago, Illinois, was one of the largest taxicab companies in the United States. History Yellow ca ...

. Pekárková returned to the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

in 1996. Her first novel was ''Pera a perute'' (1989), translated into English by David Powelstock as ''Truck Stop Rainbows'' (1992), was about Fialka, a Prague university student who photographs botanical mutations resulting from Czechoslovakia's unchecked industrial pollution. When her friend Patrick is diagnosed with

multiple sclerosis Multiple (cerebral) sclerosis (MS), also known as encephalomyelitis disseminata or disseminated sclerosis, is the most common demyelinating disease, in which the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord are damaged. This d ...

, she hitchhikes Czechoslovakia's Southern Road and prostitute for truckers to pay for his wheelchair. Her second novel, ''Kulatý svět'' (1994), translated into English by David Powelstock as ''The World is Round,'' was about Jitka, a Czechoslovakian woman who flees the country for an Austrian refugee camp, where she is gang-raped. Eventually she gains asylum in Canada through a fabricated story. ''Dej mi ty prachy'' (1996), translated by the author herself into English as ''Gimme the Money'' (2000), was about Gin, a Czechoslovakian taxi driver in the US, based on Pekárková's experience driving a taxi in New York City. Pekárková travelled to Thailand in 1988 and 1989 to study the refugee camps there, the inspiration for her novel ''Třicet dva chwanů'' (''Thirty-two Kwan'' 2000). The Czech heroine is trapped in Thailand during the

Velvet Revolution The Velvet Revolution ( cs, Sametová revoluce) or Gentle Revolution ( sk, Nežná revolúcia) was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations agains ...

. Pekárková describes it as "another book about culture clashes" and contains "some of my ideas and observations about immigration and emigration." Visits to India and Nigeria inspired ''To India Where Else'' (2001) and ''Naidja: Stats in My Heart'' (2004). She published ''Six Billion Americas in 2005.''

Novels

*''Pera a perutě'', 1989 (translated into English by David Powelstock as ''Truck Stop Rainbows'', 1992) * ''Kulatý svět,'' (translated into English by David Powelstock as ''The World Is Round''), 1994 *'' Dej mi ty prachy'', 1996 (translated into English by the author as ''Gimme the Money'', 2000)

References

External links

Central Europe Review Interview

Radio Praha Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pekarkova, Iva 1963 births Writers from Prague Living people Czech novelists Czech women writers American women novelists Czech bloggers Czech women bloggers Charles University alumni American women bloggers American bloggers 21st-century American women