Borkovec Petr

Petr Borkovec (b. 1970) is a poet, writer of fiction and translator. He has worked as an editor for the Lidové noviny publishing house, the Lidové noviny daily, the literary monthly Literární noviny and the literary review Souvislosti. From 2005 to 2023, he served as artistic director and host at Prague’s Fra literary café. He writes regular pieces for the Vltava radio station, the magazines A2 and Qartál, and the online literary magazine iLiteratura. He teaches at the Department of Creative Writing of the Prague School of Creative Communication (VŠKK) and is a regular contributor to the magazine Listy. Borkovec made his literary debut in 1990 with Prostírání do tichého [Silent Table Settings], a collection of poetry published by Pražská imaginace. His most recent books are the short stories Nějaká Cécile a jiné [Cécile and the Others] (Fra), for which he received the 2025 Cena literární kritiky [Literary Critics’ Award], and the children’s book Diktáty [Dictations] (with Andrea Tachezy; published by Běžíliška). For 2026, Baobab publishers are preparing a book of Borkovec’s poems entitled Malé lodě [Little Boats]. Borkovec has translated Russian poets including Vladislav Khodasevich, Vladimir Nabokov, Yevgeny Rein, Joseph Brodsky and Yuri Odarchenko. Together with linguist Matyáš Havrda, he has produced translations of ancient Greek tragedies, including Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, Aeschylus’ Oresteia, and Euripides’ The Bacchae and Medea. In 2024, DharmaGai published the anthology Světlušky v rukávech: Hmyz v japonských básních waka a haiku 8.–20. století [Fireflies in the Sleeves: Insects in Japanese Waka and Haiku from the 8th to 20th Centuries], which Borkovec translated with Japanologist Helena Honcoopová. His translations of Japanese poetry build on his experience of Korean poetry; his translations in collaboration with Koreanist Vladimír Pucek resulted in 2001 in the Paseka publication Jasná luna v prázdných horách [Bright Moon in Empty Mountains].

Works translated into: English, French, Italian, German, Romanian, Slovenian, Spanish.