Lit_cast Slovakia #12 with Sarah Hinlicky Wilson

In Lit_Cast Slovakia #12, Lutheran pastor, publisher, editor and blogger Sarah Hinlicky Wilson, who grew up in the US and now lives in Japan, talks to Julia Sherwood about diving into the history of Slovakia and unearthing some forgotten gems in her quest to read every single Slovak novel available in English. She explains her criteria for rating books, recommends her favourite Slovak works of literature and unveils the most translated Slovak writer of all times.

 

Background notes

Sarah Hinlicky Wilson

Excerpts from her memoir

Sarah Hinlicky-Wilson: list of reviews

 

Links relating to the Artia Publishing House (including Rosemary Kavan's memoir)

 

Books Sarah is still hunting for:

Martin Kukučín: Seven Slovak Stories

Rudolf Jašík: Dead Soldiers Don’t Sing

Kristína Royová: The Heiress 

 

Sarah’s favorites among the "literary" novels:

Gaudeamus by Richard

Fleeting Snow by Pavel Vilikovský

Ilona. My Life with the Bard by Jana Juráňová

The Equestrienne by Uršuľa Kovalyk.

 

Sarah’s 5-star rated reviews:

The Taste of Power by Ladislav Mňačko

Three Chestnut Horses by Margita Figuli

Rivers of Babylon by Peter Pišťanek

 

Books recommended on specific periods of recent Slovak history:

On life in pre-communist 20th-century Slovakia:  Jozef Mak by Jozef Ciger-Hronský

On World War II:  Death is Called Engelchen by Ladislav Mňačko 

On the Stalinist era: The Taste of Power by Ladislav Mňačko 

For the normalization period:  The Year of the Frog by Martin M. Šimečka and 

The Equestrienne by Uršuľa Kovalyk

On the post-communist period: Big Love by Balla.

Sarah’s translation of the fairy tale "Twelve Brothers and a Thirteenth Sister"