30^th Leukerbad International Literary Festival

Authors

Radka Denemarková

Czech Republic

Radka Denemarková, the Spycher Prize winner born in 1968, is one of the most important voices in contemporary Czech literature. A graduate in German studies, she works as a novelist, essayist and translator (including Herta Müller) and has gained international recognition for her exploration of repressed chapters of European history. For instance, she addresses the expulsion of Germans after the Second World War, anti-Semitism, patriarchal structures and violence against women.
Denemarková’s interests, however, extend far beyond Europe: in 2017, the Chinese government responded to her contact with Chinese dissidents by imposing a lifetime entry ban. Writing about her critical novel on China, Stunden aus Blei, Die Welt said: “Introspection and panoramic view, an allegory of our times and at the same time a sophisticated nuance of detail; not a single character in the book is a two-dimensional figure, but rather almost a novel in their own right.”
Her new novel Schokoladenblut unfolds a historical panorama of the 19th century. It brings together themes such as women’s freedom, capitalism and power, weaving together figures such as the writers Božena Němcová and George Sand with the industrial magnate John D. Rockefeller.

Schokoladenblut. Novel. Hoffmann und Campe 2026
Das Geld von Hitler. Novel. Edition Tandem 2024
Stunden aus Blei. Novel. Hoffmann und Campe 2022
All translated from Czech by Eva Profousová.

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