About

Martin Vopenka (born 1963)

Czech writer with Jewish roots and author of 29 book titles

Profound thinker and visionary in books for adults, a sensitive guide and teacher in books for children and youth

He’s been writing since his childhood, despite being forced to study mathematics and physics during the communist era. Yet this unwanted education was later used in some of his novels.

His work received awards and a feature film was made based on one of his novels. His books were published in English, German, Italian, Polish, Spanish, Russian, Bulgarian, Rumanian, Slovakian, French, Arabic, Macedonian and Serbian.

Vopenka’s writing is notable for its keen awareness of individuals’ personal struggles and the perilous elements present in society as a whole. This includes a focus on the threats posed to both our planet and our communities.

His books for children and youth are among the most successful, popular, and appreciated in the Czech Republic. In them, too, he touches on serious topics in the belief that children are our good future and can do more than we think.

From time to time, Vopěnka engages in poetry, viewing it as the pinnacle of verbal expression. Some of his poems have been published in English in online anthologies.

Despite his steadily writing, he makes his living as a publisher. He established his publishing house Prah (in Czech Threshold) in 1990 – shortly after the Velvet Revolution. He engages also socially. Since 2003, he is a chair of the Association of Czech Booksellers and Publishers and during his time he considerably enhanced the prestige of this organization. Regularly, he writes polemic articles for the newspapers.