Sylva Fischerová is a Prague-based Czech poet. Born in Czechoslovakia in 1963 during the Communist regime, Fischerová spent her childhood in the Moravian town of Olomouc. As a writer and scholar, she possesses a valuable ethical lens. She lived through historical periods in which literature (including the work of her father, philosopher Josef Ludvík Fischer) was censored by authoritarian regimes. She is the author of ten volumes of poetry in Czech. Her most recent book published in English in the United States is Stomach of the Soul (Calypso Press 2014). In November 2018, she was named the first City Poet of Prague, and her book of Prague poems whose title is Church for Smokers is to be published this year. Fischerová is notable scholar and author whose works—in addition to poetry—include numerous essays, works of scholarly prose, and children’s literature. Fischerová’s prose book Europe Is Like a Thonet Chair, America Is a Right Angle was nominated for the prestigious Magnesia Litera Award and appeared in German translation. A professor in the Department of Greek and Latin Studies at Charles University, Faculty of Arts, she specializes in Greek literature, philosophy, and religion.

A link to Fischerová’s web site at the Prague Literary Agency can be found here: http://www.praglit.de/portfolio/sylva-fischerova/.

Photo from the author’s archives.