Jana Beňová is a poet and a fiction writer. She has graduated from the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava. Her first poetry collection Svetloplachý (Lucifugous) came out in 1993. Two poetry collections followed in 1997: Lonochod (Wombokhod) and Nehota (Loveful Naked). All three books are “travelogues” of interpersonal relationships, loves, details and life observations. She published her fiction debut, Parker (Ľúbostný román) / Parker (A Love Story) in 2001. In 2003 the collection of short stories Dvanásť poviedok a Ján Med (Twelve Stories and Jan Med) came out, a book marked by sensitivity bound with a poignant, peculiar insight into the human mind and behavior. Plán odprevádzania/Café Hyena (Seeing People Off, subtitled Café Hyena, 2008) is a peculiar mosaic of mini-stories, observations, perceptions, self-reflections and memories from which a relationship between a young woman and an aging man emerges. The second edition of the novel with the reversed title: Café Hyena (Seeing People Off) was published in 2012 and received the European Union Prize for Literature. The same year, Beňová’s book Preč! Preč! (Away! Away!) appeared. Her latest work is the novel HoneymOon (2015).
