The pandemic did not thwart our plans and the Autumn Edition of this year’s Visegrad Literary Residency Program is implemented according to its usual schedule. So, since the beginning of September, Villa Decius have the pleasure to host four artists: Viktoria Kellerman (Hungary), Marta Madejska (Poland), Ladislav Lipcsei (Slovakia) and Alena Zemančíkova (Czech Republic).
Here are the short biographies of our guests:
Viktoria Kellermann (born 1984) – has been translating Polish literature since 2007, publishing mainly prose – most notably Andrzej Sapkowski’s Witcher series. Thanks to a number of Hungarian-Polish workshops organised by the József Attila Circle (JAK) and the Association of Young Writers (FISZ) between 2011 and 2016, she developed a keen interest in translating contemporary poetry, also co-editing a bilingual anthology of Polish and Hungarian contemporary literature published as the 25th issue of dűlő together with lóránt kabai (available at: http://www.muut.hu/archivum/22340). She tried her hands at translating essays, children’s books, plays, screenplays, and comics, as well, the latter also being her main research interest. Being an enthusiastic event manager, she has been cooperating with several associations and institutions in organizing Polish and Hungarian literary and cultural events since 2012.
Marta Madejska (born 1987) – a cultural expert by education, a query specialist and museum assistant by profession, a writer and journalist by passion. Author of the reportage book ‘Aleja Włókniarek’ (Eng: ‘Mill Girls Avenue’, Czarne Publishing House, 2018). Winner of the Złoty Exlibris Literary Award (2018) and the Point for Łódź (2019). Since 2010, she has been associated with the Topografie Association, where she deals mainly with projects concerning oral history; in 2017-2019, she was the deputy editor-in-chief of the Łódź Social Newspaper ‘Miasto Ł’; she cooperates with the Museum Center of the Art Museum in Łódź.
Ladislav Lipcsei (born 1992) – studied philosophy and English at the Matej Bel University in Banska Bystrzyca. His first volume of poetry ‘Svätym Mečom’ (Eng.:‘Holy Sword’) was published in 2017. He is currently working on a second book, which will be called ‘Polaris’. He writes spiritual and philosophical poetry. He is interested in archery.
Alena Zemančíková (born 1955) – holds a degree in Dramaturgy from the Faculty of Theatre of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. She worked as a dramaturge for the West Bohemian Theatre in Cheb, as well as an editor for Czech Radio Vltava. Aside from her work for the radio, she is also a journalist and has authored several plays; she has also published the short story collection ‘Bez otce’ (Eng.: ‘Fatherless’, 2008), the children’s book ‘Mařenka a Čenda’ (2009), a collection of newspaper columns ‘Značkování’ (Eng.: ‘The Marking’, 2012) and the novel ‘Příběh v řeči nepřímé’ (Eng.: ‘A Story in Reported Language’, 2015). In 2020, her monograph ‘Zpětné zakreslení cesty’ (Eng.: ‘Back plotting of the path’) on the National Theater in Prague is going to be published. She lives in Prague.
