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The page of Topol, Jachym, English biography

Image of Topol, Jachym
Topol, Jachym
(1962–)

Biography

Jáchym Topol (August 4, 1962, Prague) is a Czech writer, a member of the Czech underground literature movement, and since the middle 1980s one of the co-founders of an underground Czech literary periodic Revolver Revue.
Jáchym Topol comes from a well-known literary family. His father, Josef Topol, is a renowned Czech playwright, poet, and Shakespeare translator.
Jáchym's writing began with lyrics for a rock band called Psí vojáci (Dog Soldiers), led by his younger brother, Filip, in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
In 1982 he cofounded the samizdat magazine Violit, in 1985 the Revolver Revue, a samizdat review that specialized in modern Czech writing. Because of his father's dissident activities, Topol was not allowed to go to university. Therefore after graduating from gymnasium he worked as a stoker, stocker, construction worker, and coal deliveryman. Several times he was imprisoned for short periods, both for his samizdat publishing activities and for his smuggling across the Polish border in cooperation with Polish Solidarity. He was also a signatory of Charta 77 - human rights declaration.
Jáchym played a part in the 1989 so called Velvet Revolution, publishing the independent newsletter Information Service (Informační servis), which later turned to the weekly magazine Respekt. He was a reporter with Respekt for four years, he still writes for, and with Revolver Revue for three years.
He has also written lyrics for three albums by singer Monika Naceva: Moznosti tu sou (There Is a Chance, 1994), Nebe je rudý (The Sky Is Red, 1996), and Mimoid (1998). In addition, poems from The Sister were set to music and released as a CD (Sestra: Jáchym Topol & Psí Vojáci) by Filip Topol and his band in 1994. Now he lives in Prague with his wife and two daughters.
Literature ::
Translation ::

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