Jan Křesadlo

His first novel Mrchopěvci (GraveLarks) was published by Josef Škvorecký's emigre publishing house 68 Publishers, and earned the 1984 Egon Hostovský prize. He chose his pseudonym (which means firesteel) partly because it contains the uniquely Czech sound ř; in addition, he was fond of creating more pseudonyms such as Jake Rolands (an anagram), J. Klement (after his grandfather, for translations into English), Juraj Hron (for his Slovak-Moravian writings), Ferdinand Lučovický z Lučovic a na Suchým dole (for his music), Kamil Troud (for his illustrations), Ἰωάννης Πυρεῖα (for his Astronautilia), and more. Pinkava was also active in choral music, composing (among others) a Glagolitic Mass. A polymath and polyglot, Pinkava was fond of setting intense goals for himself, such as translating Jaroslav Seifert's interwoven sonnet cycle about Prague, 'A Wreath of Sonnets'. He published a collection of his own poems in seven languages. Perhaps his most staggering achievement is ΑΣΤΡΟΝΑΥΤΙΛΙΑ Hvězdoplavba, a 6575-line science fiction epic poem, an odyssey in classical Homeric Greek, with its parallel hexameter translation into Czech. This was published shortly after his death, in a limited edition. Only his first, prize-winning novel has been published in English translation, as GraveLarks in a bilingual edition in 1999 and in a revised edition in 2015 He is the father of film director Jan Pinkava who received an Oscar for Geri's Game in 1998 and also illustrated GraveLarks.

• Name — Jan Křesadlo • Birth Name — Václav Jaroslav Karel Pinkava • Born — 9 December 1926 • Birthplace — Prague, Czechoslovakia • Died — 13 August 1995 • Place of death — Colchester, England • Citizenship — British • Occupation — Psychologist, writer, poet • Children — 4

Jan Křesadlo was recorded at birth as Václav Jaroslav Karel Pinkava. He also worked under the names J. Klement, Ferdinand Lučovický z Lučovic and Jake Rolands. The authorities additionally record the heading Jan Kresadlo. His recorded language was Czech. 3 children are recorded: Václav Z. Pinkava, Jan Pinkava and Eva Pinkavová. Recorded as writer, psychologist, translator, composer and painter.