Martin Milan Šimečka (born 3 November 1957) is a Slovak journalist and writer.

Life and career

Martin Milan Šimečka is the son of , a prominent

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 *Czech (surnam ...

dissident during the

Communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state in which the totality of the power belongs to a party adhering to some form of Marxism–Leninism, a branch of the communist ideology. Marxism–Leninism was ...

. He received technical training at the

Slovnaft Slovnaft is an oil refining company in Slovakia. The company, located in Bratislava, is a subsidiary of MOL Group. History Slovnaft is the successor of the Apollo company. Apollo was established in 1895 in Bratislava. Its refinery was bombar ...

plant in

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

, then held a series of odd jobs. Until 1989, all of his works were published and distributed as

samizdat Samizdat (, , ) was a form of dissident activity across the Eastern Bloc in which individuals reproduced censored and underground makeshift publications, often by hand, and passed the documents from reader to reader. The practice of manual rep ...

. In 1990 he founded the independent publishing house Archa, where he worked as chief editor until 1996. From 1997 to 1999 he worked as chief editor of , a Slovak weekly publication. From 1997 to 2006, he was the editor-in-chief of

SME ''Sme'' (stylized as ''SME'') or ''Denník Sme'' () is one of the widely-read mainstream broadsheets in Slovakia. Its website is one of the most-visited internet portals in Slovakia. Ownership status In June 2016, the Antimonopoly Office appro ...

, Slovakia's leading daily newspaper. From 2006 until 2008, he was editor-in-chief of the magazine

Respekt ''Respekt'' is a Czech weekly news magazine published in Prague, the Czech Republic, reporting on domestic and foreign Politics, political and Economy, economic issues, as well as on science and culture. History and profile ''Respekt'' was f ...

, where he served as editor and contributor. Since 2016, he has been an editor at

Denník N ''Denník N'' is a Slovakia, Slovak daily newspaper and a news website which was founded by the former members of the editorial board of ''Sme'' in 2014. History In 2014, the Namav, a subject subvented by the Penta Investments group, announce ...

, a newspaper and internet service. He received the

Jiří Orten Award The Jiří Orten Award is a Czech literary prize given to the author of a work of prose or poetry who is no older than 30 at the time of the work's completion. The award is named after Czech poet Jiří Orten. The winner is awarded a prize of 50,00 ...

in 1988 for his autobiographical novel Žabí rok. The Jiří Orten Award is awarded to a work of prose or poetry whose author is no older than 30 at the time of the work's completion. In 2018, he was awarded the

Order of Ľudovít Štúr The Order of Ľudovít Štúr () is the third highest Slovak state decoration (after the Order of the White Double Cross and the Orders, decorations, and medals of Slovakia#Andrej Hlinka Order, Order of Andrej Hlinka) conferred by the President ...

, 1st Class.

Writing

He began publishing in 1980 in samizdat magazines (Content, Contact, Fragment-K) and in editions (Petlice, Fragment-K). In the 1980s, he edited Tatarka's ''Navrávačky'', which was published abroad. As a columnist he has contributed since 1989 to the periodicals Smena, Domino Forum, National Revival, Cultural Life, Slovenské pohľady, Literární noviny, Respekt, Listy, etc. He writes not only prose, but also journalistic works for various Slovak and foreign periodicals. His journalism focuses mainly on the Slovak political and cultural situation. In the field of prose, he emphasizes the authenticity of experiences as opposed to the world of real socialism, which is why his works contain many autobiographical elements.

Awards

* 1988

* 2018

, 1st Class

Bibliography

* ''Žabí rok'', 1985. In English translation: ''Year of the Frog''. Touchstone Books, 1996. ; . * ''Džin''. Archa, 1990. * ''Záujem''. Torst, 1997. * ''Hľadanie obáv''. Kalligram, 1998. * ''Medzi Slovákmi''. N Press, 2017. * ''Světelná znamení''. Salon, 2018. * ''Telesná výchova''. N Press, 2020. * ''Všetko malo byť inak: Slovensko po roku 1945''. Centrum environmentálnej a etickej výchovy ŽIVICA, 2020. * ''Príhody tuláka po Slovensku''. N Press, 2022.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simecka, Martin Milan Living people 1957 births Slovak writers