Kateřina Rudčenková: From Ludwig to Amália
– Czechia
Born in 1976 in Prague, she graduated from the Czech University of Agriculture and the Jaroslav Ježek Conservatory in Prague. She writes poetry, prose and plays.She made her debut with a poetry collection Ludwig (1999), followed by Není nutné, abyste mě navštěvoval (It Is Not Necessary for You to Visit, 2001), Popel a slast (Ash and Bliss, 2004), Chůze po dunách (Walking on Dunes, 2013), a short story collection titled Noci, noci (Nights, Nights, 2004), and a novella Amáliina nehybnost (Amália's Stillness, 2021). She writes with a quasi-autobiographical tone and explores the realms of romanticism, existencialism, and the Theatre of the Absurd. She is a poetess of ecstasy; living in the present moment within her texts, despite its uncertainty, transience, and mortality. She has received numerous awards, including the Hubert Burda Prize (2003) and Magnesia Litera for poetry (2014).