About
Alex Zucker’s translations from Czech include novels by Bianca Bellová, Petra Hůlová, Jáchym Topol, J. R. Pick, Magdaléna Platzová, Tomáš Zmeškal, Josef Jedlička, Heda Margolius Kovály, Patrik Ouředník, and Miloslava Holubová. He has also translated stories, plays, subtitles, young adult and children’s books, song lyrics, reportages, essays, poems, philosophy, art history, and an opera.
Zucker has two books out in 2022: his translation of the novel The Lake, by Bianca Bellová (Parthian Books), and his translations of essays by Czech phenomenologist and cultural critic Jan Patočka, in The Selected Writings of Jan Patocka: Care for the Soul (Bloomsbury). His translation of the Jáchym Topol novel A Sensitive Person is forthcoming from Margellos World Republic of Letters at Yale University Press in 2023.
Currently, Zucker is seeking publishers for four novels: Biography of a Black-and-White Lamb, by Tomáš Zmeškal; Dust Collectors and Deathmaiden, by Lucie Faulerová; and Cracks, by Klára Vlasáková. For samples, synopses, and author bios, write alexz (dot) nyc (at) gmail (dot) com.
Featured Work
The Lake
The Lake, winner of the 2017 EU Prize for Literature, is a dystopian page-turner about a boy's coming of age in a devastated land and the harsh circumstances under which people fight to survive.
Other Works
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The Selected Writings of Jan Patocka: Care for the Soul
2022
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The Movement, by Petra Hůlová
2021
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Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, by J. R. Pick
2018
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Angel Station, by Jáchym Topol
2017
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Three Plastic Rooms, by Petra Hulová
2017
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The Attempt, by Magdaléna Platzová
2016
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Love Letter in Cuneiform, by Tomáš Zmeškal
2016
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Midway Upon the Journey of Our Life, by Josef Jedlička
2016
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Innocence; or, Murder on Steep Street, by Heda Margolius Kovály
2015
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Reconstructing Atrocity Prevention (editor)
2015
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The Devil’s Workshop, by Jáchym Topol
2013
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The Opportune Moment, 1855, by Patrik Ouředník
2011
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Case Closed, by Patrik Ouředník
2010
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All This Belongs to Me, by Petra Hůlová
2009
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City Sister Silver, by Jáchym Topol
2000
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More Than One Life, by Miloslava Holubová
1999
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A Trip to the Train Station, by Jáchym Topol
1995; 2011
Awards and Recognition
- Magdaléna Platzová’s The Attempt longlisted for 2018 International DUBLIN Literary Award
- 2017 English PEN Translates Award
- 2013 English PEN Award for Writing in Translation
- 2013 Typographical Translation Award
- 2012 National Endowment for the Arts Literary Fellowship
- 2010 ALTA National Translation Award
Press and Media Mentions
- The Movement by Petra Hůlová, in “9 Dystopian Novels in Translation to Read Now,” at Words Without Borders
- On the Origins of the Authors Guild Translation Model Contract: An Interview With Alex Zucker
- Excerpt from the novel Dust Collectors by Lucie Faulerová, translated by Alex Zucker, at Columbia Journal
- The Movement by Petra Hůlová, in “7 contemporary Czech novels everyone should read,” at Calvert Journal
- “Waiting for Dystopia,” review of The Movement and interview with Petra Hůlová, at Transitions Online
- The Movement by Petra Hůlová, at Kirkus Reviews
- Petra Hůlová, The Movement: Review at Publishers Weekly
- Petra Hůlová’s new dystopian feminist novel The Movement featured in “Other Worlds, Other Voices: Reading Translated Science Fiction by Women,” on LitHub
- Petra Hůlová’s Mongolian family saga All This Belongs to Me: No. 24 in the Radio Prague International series “The Czech Books You Must Read”
- Jáchym Topol’s The Devil’s Workshop – exploring dark chapters of region’s history: No. 19 in the Radio Prague International series “The Czech Books You Must Read”
- “Alex Zucker: I Don’t Want to Translate Books, I Want to Translate Authors” (Interview with Radio Prague)
- “J. R. Pick and a Brilliant Novel of the Holocaust – At Last Available in English: Part 2” (Radio Prague)
- “J. R. Pick and a Brilliant Novel of the Holocaust – At Last Available in English: Part 1” (Radio Prague)
- “Laughing in the Dark: On J. R. Pick’s Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals” (Los Angeles Review of Books)
- Petra Hůlová, Three Plastic Rooms: Review by Dr. Helen Vassallo on the Translating Women blog
- “Sex, plugs and folderol” (TLS on Petra Hůlová’s Three Plastic Rooms)
- Petra Hůlová’s Three Plastic Rooms in “World Literature Today’s 75 Notable Translations of 2017”
- “Pleasure, Pity, Pain: On Petra Hůlová’s Three Plastic Rooms” (Los Angeles Review of Books)
- Full Stop review of Jáchym Topol’s Angel Station
- TLS on Jáchym Topol’s Angel Station
- Kirkus on Jáchym Topol’s Angel Station
- Magdaléna Platzová’s The Attempt in “10 Books about Occupy Wall Street You Need to Read” at Culture Trip
- TLS on Tomáš Zmeškal’s Love Letter in Cuneiform
- TLS on Josef Jedlička’s Midway Upon the Journey of Our Life
- Magdaléna Platzová’s The Attempt in “75 Notable Translations of 2016” at World Literature Today
- Wall Street Journal on Heda Margolius Kovály’s Innocence
- NPR on Heda Margolius Kovály’s Innocence
- Interview, “Translating Fact into Fiction”
- Interview, “The thrilling, tricky art of translation”
- Interview, “Translators, Rates, Money, and Unions”
- Interview, “Alex Zucker and His Authors”
