Jakuba Katalpa & Jan Koubek: Soil, breath and mothers
– Czechia
Jakuba Katalpa (Tereza Jandová by her true name) was born in Plzeň in 1979. She studied Czech language and literature, linguistic and literary culture and psychology at universities in Prague and Hradec Králové. She has authored four acclaimed pieces of prose: Je hlína k snědku? (Can You Eat Soil?, 2006), Hořké moře (Bitter Sea, 2008), Němci (Germans, 2012) and Doupě (The Den, 2017); her fifth book (Zuzanin dech/Zuzana’s Breath) is to be released soon. Jan Koubek (born 1977) studied linguistic and literary culture and cultural anthropology at universities in Hradec Králové and Plzeň. He has worked as a land-surveyor and a museum curator and now makes a living as an IT administrator. In 2012, he published Matky (Mothers), his first prosaic work.