Jan Němec´s books have been published in thirteen languages: Arabian, Bulgarian, Croatian, German, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Macedonian, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Slovenian, Spanish. Also English world rights have been sold (Seagull Books, India / England).
Bio:
Jan Němec studied Sociology at the Faculty of Social Studies of Masaryk University and Dramaturgy at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno.
His debut was a book of poetry The First Life / První život (2007), followed with the book of short stories Game for Four Hands / Hra pro čtyři ruce (2009). His novel A History of Light / Dějiny světla (2013) has already been published in eleven languages and the author received for this novel European Union Prize for Literature and Czech Book Award and was shortlisted for Magnesia Litera in the Prose category and Josef Škvorecký Prize (all in 2014). The next novel, Ways of Writing about Love / Možnosti milostného románu (2019) was shorlisted for Magnesia Litera in the Prose category and Czech Book Award. With Petr Vizina, Jan Němec is co-author of Signs of the Unknown / Znamení neznámého (2021), a book of conversations about modern-day spirituality. His latest work is a book of short stories Lilliputin. Stories from a War / Liliputin. Povídky z války (2022).
As a journalist, he has worked with Respekt weekly, Czech Television, Czech Radio and the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, among others. Currently, he is editor-in-chief of Host literary monthly and a freelance contributor to Deník N daily. For two years, Jan Němec was a chairman of Czech Writers Association (till the end of 2016).
Jan Němec is a seeker by nature. Drawn to hitherto undescribed places, he looks at the world in a way that reveals depths beneath its surface, and his descriptions of what he sees are never less than evocative.
— Petr A. Bílek, Aktuálně.cz
