4-3-2-1
(18th Year) — Summer

May 5, 2024, 5pm
Peter Juščák

Peter Juščák (1953) worked as a site manager after graduating from the University of Transportation in Žilina. He started working at Československý rozhlas [Czechoslovak Radio] in Košice in 1986. After 1990, he worked for Literárny týždenník [Literature Weekly] and the daily papers Smena and SME. In 2000, he visited Kosovo several times and wrote for Kultúrny život [Cultural Life]. Between 2000 – 2003, he worked for the literary department of Slovenský rozhlas [Slovak Radio] in Košice. He was a member of the Radio Board between 2004 – 2010. He worked at The Nation’s Memory Institute (ÚPN) between 2016 – 2017 as a spokesperson and editor-in-chief of the Nation’s Memory magazine. His book debut was a collection of short stories titled Komu ujde vlak [Who Will Miss the Train], published in 1986 and awarded with the Ivan Krasko Award. Three years later, he published his novel V očiach soľ [Salt in the Eyes] which was followed by another collection of short stories titled Milovanie so sochou Miriam [Making Love to the Statue of Miriam](1995). He summarised his story of a journalist and the events after 1989 with a dose of humour in his prose Som Ťukot [I Am Ťukot] (1999). He presented himself as a writer of the literature of fact with his book Odvlečení [Carted-Off] (2001). After a book of short proses of different genres titled Návod na použitie zvyšnej časti života [User’s Manual to the Rest of Their Life] (2005), he returned to the theme of the carted-off in his novel …a nezabudni na labute! […and Don’t Forget About the Swans!] (2014), which got him into the finale of the Anasoft litera competition in 2015. His experiences from Kosovo were described in his novel Balkan Blues (2018). He is the author of a book essay about the first president of the Slovak Republic titled Michal Kováč a jeho bremeno [Michal Kováč and His Burden] (2003). In 2023, he published a book of ten peculiar stories from the Soviet labor camps, Desaťkrát GULAG [Ten Times GULAG]. Besides the Ivan Krasko award, which he received for his debut, Juščák also received the SC PEN Reward in 2001 for the book Odvlečení [Carted-Off] and the main prize of the Association of the Organisations of Slovak Authors (2014) for the novel …a nezabudni na labute! […and Don’t Forget About the Swans!] ¹

July 18, 2024, 5pm
Katarína Vargová

Katarína Vargová (1992) graduated from the Studio of Screenplay Writing at VŠMU Bratislava. Her debut was a collection of short stories titled Šura and she was a long-time manager of the literary project Medziriadky [BetweenTheLines]. She works as a television screenplay writer, dramaturgist and creative producer. In 2024, she published her prose Severné more [Northern Sea], which was one of five books nominated for the René Award – a literary prize awarded by secondary and grammar school students.

August 22, 2024, 5pm
Richard Pupala

Richard Pupala (1972) was born on August 19, 1972 in Hnúšťa, the district of Rimavská Sobota. He spent his childhood, all the way until graduation, in the south of central Slovakia in Veľký Krtíš. His university studies convinced him his future was in literature and literary work. He started studying screenplay writing and dramaturgy at the Film and Television Faculty at VŠMU. He graduated in 2000 and then spent his doctoral studies by teaching screenplay writing for two years. He has worked as a bartender and editor in several printed weekly magazines and also spent two years working as a creative professional for the Monarch agency. At the moment, he works as a screenplay writer and dramaturgist for various production companies and television channels. In 2007, he won the Short Story competition. His debut was in 2014 with a collection of short stories Návštevy [Visits]. In 2017, he published another collection of short stories titled Čierny zošit [Black Notebook]. In 2020, it was Ženy aj muži, zvieratá [Both Women and Men, Animals]. His latest piece is Druhý čierny zošit [Second Black Notebook], published 2023. All of his collections have been nominated for the Anasoft litera Award. Čierny zošit [Black Notebook] and Ženy aj muži, zvieratá [Both Women and Men, Animals] were also nominated for the European Union Prize for Literature.²