Věra Linhartová (born 22 March, 1938) is 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, ...

writer and an art historian. She was born in Brno and studied art history at Jan Evangelista Purkyně University and aesthetics at

Charles University in Prague ) , 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 ...

. She worked in the art gallery at

Hluboká Castle Hluboká Castle (german: Schloss Frauenberg) is a historic château situated in Hluboká nad Vltavou. It is considered one of the most beautiful castles in the Czech Republic. Tourism Hluboká is one of the most famous and most frequently visited ...

. From 1962 to 1965, she was involved with the

surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...

group 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 ...

and also contributed to the young writers' journal ''Tvář''. In 1968, Linhartová moved to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. Since 1969, she has been writing in French. In 1972, she was the first female juror of the

Neustadt International Prize for Literature The Neustadt International Prize for Literature is a biennial award for literature sponsored by the University of Oklahoma and its international literary publication, ''World Literature Today''. It is considered one of the more prestigious inte ...

, known then as Books Abroad. She nominated French author

Nathalie Sarraute Nathalie Sarraute (; born Natalia Ilinichna Tcherniak ( rus, Ната́лья Ильи́нична Черня́к); – 19 October 1999) was a French writer and lawyer. Personal life Sarraute was born in Ivanovo-Voznesensk (now Ivanovo), 300&n ...

, but the Prize was awarded to Colombian author

Gabriel García Márquez Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez (; 6 March 1927 – 17 April 2014) was a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter, and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo () or Gabito () throughout Latin America. Considered one ...

that year. She studied Japanese in Paris and from 1989 to 1990, she lived in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

on a research grant. She edited and translated ''Dada et Surréalisme au Japon'' (1987). Linhartová received the

Jaroslav Seifert Prize The Jaroslav Seifert Prize (Czech: Cena Jaroslava Seiferta) is a prestigious Czech literary prize created by the Charta 77 Foundation in Stockholm in January 1986. This prize is named after the Nobel Prize–winning Czechoslovak writer, poet and j ...

in 1998. In 2010, she received the F. X. Šalda Award and the Tom Stoppard prize for her collection of essays ''Soustředné kruhy'' (Collected Circles).

Selected works

* ''Meziprůzkum nejblíž uplynulého'' (Intersurvey of the nearest past), short stories (1964) * ''Prostor k rozlišení'' (Space for differentiation), short stories (1964) * ''Rozprava o zdviži'' (Discourse about a lift), prose (1965) * ''Přestořeč'' (Despite speech), short stories (1966) * ''Chiméra neboli Průřez cibulí'', prose (1967) * ''Dada et Surréalisme au Japon (''Modern Art in Japan'')'' (1987). * ''Ianus tří tváří'' (Three-faced Janus), poetry (1993) * ''Mes oubliettes'' (My dungeons) (1998) * ''Soustředné kruhy'', essays (2011)

References

1938 births Living people Czech women writers Czech art historians Czech short story writers Women art historians Czech women short story writers Masaryk University alumni Charles University alumni Czech women essayists Czech women poets Writers from Brno 20th-century Czech women writers 20th-century Czech poets 21st-century Czech women writers 21st-century Czech writers 21st-century Czech poets Czechoslovak emigrants to France {{CzechRepublic-writer-stub