Tomas Zmeskal

Background

He was born in Prague to a Congolese father and a Czechoslovakian mother.

Education

In 1987, he left the then-Czechoslovakia to live in London, where he studied English language and literature at King"s College.

Career

He taught at Charles University for a while, and currently teaches in high school. Zmeškal was lauded for his debut novel Milostný dopis klínovým písmem (Love Letter in Cuneiform Script), published in 2008. He has published two other books since.

Zmeškal now lives in Prague.

Achievements

• The book won the European Union Prize for Literature and the Josef Škvorecký Prize.

Politics

He returned after the collapse of communism.

Membership

In the 1980s, he was a member of the band Psí vojáci, led by Filip Topol.