Jiří Hájíček: The dragon and the road

 – Czechia

Jiří Hájíček was born in 1967 in České Budějovice, where he graduated from the University of Agriculture. Since 1993, he has been employed as a bank clerk. An existential prose writer, neorealist in style, thematically draws from the memory of a South Bohemian village after World War II.

The author of poems (Muž pod černým deštníkem (The Man under the Black Umbrella), 2022), short stories (Vzpomínky na jednu vesnickou tancovačku (Memories of a Village Dance), 2014), novellas (Fotbalové deníky (The Football Diaries), 2007) and, above all, his acclaimed novels: Zloději zelených koní (The Green Horse Rustlers, 2001), Dobrodruzi hlavního proudu (The Mainstream Adventurers, 2002), Selský baroko (Rustic Baroque, 2005), Rybí krev (Fish Blood, 2012), Dešťová hůl (The Rainstick, 2016), Plachetnice na vinětách (Sailing Ships on Labels, 2020) – and most recently, Drak na polní cestě (Dragon on the Dirt Road, 2024).