Pavel Šrut (3 April 1940, 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 ...

– 20 April 2018) was a

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poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

and writer.

Career

After graduating in 1967 from the Charles University in Prague where he studied

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and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

, Šrut worked as an editor in a publishing house. Since 1972, he was a freelance writer and

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

. Together with poets such as

Ivan Wernisch Ivan Wernisch (born 18 June 1942) is a Czech poet, editor and a collage artist. He studied Ceramics Secondary school in Carlsbad (he left in 1959) and has since done many jobs, mostly manual. In 1961, after publishing his debut poetry book, he ...

and Petr Kabeš, Šrut belonged to the famous generation of Czech poets who published their first books in the 1960s. Like so many of his contemporaries, he was not allowed to publish books of his poems during the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

occupation, except for books for children. His work was often done together with an award-winning Czech painter and illustrator Galina Miklínová (e. g. ''Verunka a kokosový dědek'' (2004) which is included on the IBBY list, as is his 1992 book ''Kočičí král'' which is a collection of English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh fairy-tales) and lyrics for Czech musicians like

Petr Skoumal Petr Skoumal (7 March 1938 – 28 September 2014) was a Czech musician and composer. Skoumal focused on film music. He also composed music for animated shorts (i.e. '' Maxipes Fik''). In the past he made several stage performances with Jan V ...

, and

Framus Five Framus Five is a Czech rock band founded in Prague in 1963 and led by singer and guitarist Michal Prokop. The band also includes guitarist Luboš Andršt and violinist Jan Hrubý. The group disbanded in 1971 but reunited in 1978 under the sli ...

. Apart from his celebrated poetry and books for children, he was also a translator from English and Spanish. His translations include books of Dylan Thomas, Robert Graves,

D. H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. His work explored religion, politics, isolation, depression, sexuality, loss, death, and romantic relationships. He was inducted in ...

, John Updike,

Federico García Lorca Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936), known as Federico García Lorca ( ), was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblemat ...

, and others. Šrut lived in Zdice.

Western Michigan University Western Michigan University (Western Michigan, Western or WMU) is a public research university in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It was initially established as Western State Normal School in 1903 by Governor Aaron T. Bliss for the training of teachers ...

offered the Pavel Šrut Poetry Fellowship in their Prague Summer program, where Šrut appeared sometimes as a guest or guest faculty member.

Bibliography

Poetry *''Noc plná křídel'' (1964) *''Přehlásky'' (1967) *''Červotočivé světlo'' (1969) *''Malá domů'' (1989) *''Přestupný duben'' (1989) *''Kolej Yesterday'' (1990) (a collection of his lyrics) *''Cadus rotundus - Sud kulatý'' (with Eugen Brikcius) (1993) *''Zlá milá'' (1997) *''Brožované básně'' (2000) - for these two books he was awarded the prestigious

Jaroslav Seifert Jaroslav Seifert (; 23 September 1901 – 10 January 1986) was a Czech writer, poet and journalist. Seifert was awarded the 1984 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his poetry which endowed with freshness, sensuality and rich inventiveness provides ...

Prize in 2000 *''Papírové polobotky'' (2001) Essays *''Konzul v afrikánech'' (1998) For children (selection) *''Pavouček Pája'' (2001) *''Veliký tůdle'' (2003) *''Verunka a kokosový dědek'' (2004) *''Příšerky a příšeři'' (2005) *''Šišatý švec a myšut'' (2008) (all five with G. Miklínová)

References

External links

* 1940 births 2018 deaths Czech poets Czech male poets Czech children's writers International Writing Program alumni Writers from Prague {{CzechRepublic-poet-stub