WKarel Čapek was a Czech writer, playwright and critic. He has become best known for his science fiction, including his novel War with the Newts (1936) and play R.U.R., which introduced the word robot. He also wrote many politically charged works dealing with the social turmoil of his time. Influenced by American pragmatic liberalism, he campaigned in favor of free expression and strongly opposed the rise of both fascism and communism in Europe.
WViktor Dyk was a nationalist Czech poet, prose writer, playwright, politician and political writer. He was sent to jail during the First World War for opposing the Austro-Hungarian empire. He was one of the signatories of the Manifesto of Czech writers. Dyk co-founded a political party and entered politics. He died at age 53, leaving his many poems, plays and writings.
WAlois Jirásek was a Czech writer, author of historical novels and plays. Jirásek was a high school history teacher in Litomyšl and later in Prague until his retirement in 1909. He wrote a series of historical novels imbued with faith in his nation and in progress toward freedom and justice. He was close to many important Czech personalities like M.Aleš, J.V. Sládek, K.V. Rais or Z.J. Nejedlý. He attended an art club in Union Cafe with them. He worked as a redactor in Zvon magazine and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1918, 1919, 1921 and 1930.
WIvan Klíma is a Czech novelist and playwright. He has received the Magnesia Litera award and the Franz Kafka Prize, among other honors.
WMilan Kundera is a Czech writer who went into exile in France in 1975, becoming a naturalised French citizen in 1981. Kundera's Czechoslovak citizenship was revoked in 1979. He was given a Czech citizenship in 2019. He "sees himself as a French writer and insists his work should be studied as French literature and classified as such in book stores".
WPaul Leppin was a 20th-century Bohemian writer of German language, who was born and lived in Prague.
WVilém Mrštík was a Czech writer known for his novel Santa Lucia (1893). With his brother, Alois (1861-1925) he also wrote the drama Maryša (1894). This play, set in rural Moravia, explored gender roles and tradition in a small village. In contrast to the more positive renderings of rural life by the writers of the National Revival, the brothers attempted a more impartial view of life in the countryside.
WVítězslav Nezval was one of the most prolific avant-garde Czech writers in the first half of the twentieth century and a co-founder of the Surrealist movement in Czechoslovakia.
WJan Novák is a Czech-American writer, screenwriter and playwright. He writes in both Czech and English, frequently translating his work. He has received awards in both the United States and the Czech Republic. He has worked closely with such figures as Václav Havel and Miloš Forman.
WKarel Poláček was a Czech writer, humorist and journalist of Jewish descent.
WFráňa Šrámek was a Czech anarchist, impressionist, and vitalist poet, novelist, and playwright.
WEduard Štorch was a Czech pedagogue, archaeologist and writer, known for novels set in prehistoric Bohemia during Stone and Bronze Age.
WJiří Stránský was a Czech author, playwright, translator, screenwriter, twice a political prisoner of the communist regime, and human rights advocate. He was the grandson of Czechoslovak politician Jan Malypetr.
WVáclav Beneš Třebízský was a popular Czech novelist. He was born in the city of Třebíz, Czech Republic. He is the author of numerous historical novels and children's stories. His best novel is arguably In the Early Evening of the Five-Petaled Roses (1885).
WJulius Zeyer was a Czech prose writer, poet, and playwright.