Ľubomír Feldek

Ľubomír Feldek (* 9 October 1936, Žilina, Czechoslovakia) is a Slovak poet, writer, playwright, and translator. He is married to Oľga Feldeková.

Feldek is the author of several books of poetry ("Kriedový kruh", "Paracelsus", and "Milovanie pred usnutím"), the novel "Van Stiphout", and several plays including "Teta na zjedenie" or "Jánošík podľa Vivaldiho". He translates works of modern world poets (Alexander Blok, Vladimir Mayakovsky, or Guillaume Apollinaire) as well as classical plays (such as those by Sophocles and William Shakespeare). He has also written a couple of books for children, most notably the "Modrá kniha rozprávok" and "Zelená kniha rozprávok" illustrated by Albín Brunovský. According to the Index Translationum statistics, he is among the top ten most translated authors writing in Slovak language.

In January 1989 he protested against the arrest of Václav Havel and signed a political manifesto "A Couple of Sentences". During the Velvet Revolution he closely cooperated with the movement Public Against Violence, which transformed itself into a political party later on.

Feldek vs. Slobodník and Feldek vs. Slovakia

In 1992, Feldek publicly noted that "Dušan Slobodník became Minister of Culture and his fascist past immediately came to light", referencing to his involvement in an SS training course as a teenager (at the age of 17) in Sekule at the time of the First Slovak Republic. The statement was published shortly after the appointment of a new Government, following the 1992 parliamentary elections, in which Slobodník became a minister. Feldek has also written the poem "Dobrú noc, moja milá", containing the verse "esesák sa objal s eštébákom" ("an SS man gave a hug to an STB agent"), referencing to the disputed past of both Dušan Slobodník and Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar. Slobodník sued him for defamation, and after losing at the Municipal Court in Bratislava, a senate consisting of three Supreme Court members voted in his favor. Feldek was obliged to apologize and pay 250,000 SKK. Although the senate of appeal of the Supreme Court abolished the financial penalty, Feldek's defendant Ernest Valko brought the case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. In 2001, in the Feldek vs. Slovakia case, the court ruled that freedom of speech was breached. Feldek was awarded damages amounting to 500,000 SKK.

Feldek and his family moved to Prague in 1995, but he himself moved back to Bratislava several years later.

External links

* [http://www.slovakradio.sk/rsi/ang/culture/txt/2005/050404_feldeks.html Interview with Ľubomír and Oľga Feldek]
* [http://www.echr.coe.int/eng/Press/2001/July/Feldekjud2001epress.htm Decision of the ECHR]