Jan Kantůrek (4 May 1948 – 22 March 2018) was a

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, ...

translator of fantasy, science fiction, comics and

Western fiction Western fiction is a genre of literature set in the American Old West frontier and typically set from the late eighteenth to the late nineteenth century. Well-known writers of Western fiction include Zane Grey from the early 20th century and ...

from English. His most known translations are

Discworld ''Discworld'' is a comic fantasy"Humorous Fantasy" in David Pringle, ed., ''The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Fantasy'' (pp.31-33). London, Carlton,2006. book series written by the English author Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a flat ...

Terry Pratchett Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English humourist, satirist, and author of fantasy novels, especially comical works. He is best known for his '' Discworld'' series of 41 novels. Pratchett's first no ...

and books about

Conan the Barbarian Conan the Barbarian (also known as Conan the Cimmerian) is a fictional sword and sorcery hero who originated in pulp magazines and has since been adapted to books, comics, films (including '' Conan the Barbarian'' and '' Conan the Destroyer'') ...

by Robert E. Howard and his successors.

Life

He was married with two children and lived in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

. Between 1975 and 1990, Kantůrek worked as a copy editor in the Artia publishing house. From 1990 to 1992 he worked as a director of marketing department in the Aventinum publishing house. Since 1992 he worked as a translator. In 1984 he co-re-established a fan club of Jules Verne, and started translating for its fanzines. He was a comic collector and, according to his own words, he could read English but not speak it. He also performed as the Librarian in theatrical productions of Pratchett's books. He was awarded "Best Translator" by the Czech ''Academy of science fiction, fantasy and horrors'' in 1995, 1996, 1997, and 1999. Discworld was awarded "Best Book Series" in the same years. In 2003 he received an award for his lifetime work in science fiction by the Academy.

References

1948 births 2018 deaths Czech translators Writers from Zlín English–Czech translators 20th-century translators {{Czech-writer-stub