| Michael Žantovský | |
|---|---|
| Czech Republic Ambassador to the Court of St. James | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 2009 |
|
| Preceded by | Jan Winkler |
| Czech Republic Ambassador to the State of Israel | |
| In office 2003–2009 |
|
| Preceded by | Daniel Kummerman |
| Succeeded by | Tomas Pojar |
| Czech Republic Ambassador to the United States of America | |
| In office 1992–1997 |
|
| Preceded by | Rita Klimova |
| Succeeded by | Alexandr Vondra |
| Personal details | |
| Born | January 3, 1949 Prague, Czech Republic |
| Nationality | Czech |
| Spouse(s) | Mrs. Jana Zantovska |
| Profession | Diplomat, politician, author, journalist, lyricist and psychologist |
Michael Žantovský (born 3 January 1949, Prague) is a Czech diplomat, politician, author, journalist, lyricist and psychologist, currently Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the Court of St. James‘.
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Born in Prague in a literary family, he was educated at the Faculty of Arts of the Charles University, Prague (M.A. summa cum laude in clinical and social psychology, 1973) and McGill University, Montreal. From 1973 until 1980 he worked in the Psychiatric Research Institute in Prague, where he did research in the fields of theory of motivation and sexual behavior. He left the Institute in 1980 and worked as a free-lance translator, lyricist and publicist. He contributed to the underground press. In 1988-89 he worked as the Prague correspondent for Reuters, the international news agency.
With his first wife, playwright and journalist Kristina Žantovská, they have a daughter Ester (*1980) and son Jonáš (*1984). With his second wife, Jana Žantovská, an award-winning photographer working under the nom de plume Jane Noseková, they have a son David (*2001) and daughter Rebeka (*2003).
During the Velvet Revolution in 1989 he was among the founding members of the Civic Forum, the umbrella organization coordinating the overthrow of the communist regime, and became its press spokesman. In January 1990 he became the spokesman, press secretary and advisor to President Václav Havel.[1] From 1992 until 1997 he served as the Ambassador of first Czechoslovakia and (from January 1993) the Czech Republic in the United States.[2]
In November 1996, he was elected to the Czech Senate in a Prague district. From 1996 until 2002 he was the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense and Security.[3] He initiated and co-drafted, inter alia, the Czech Freedom of Information Act of 1999.
In March 1997, he was elected leader of the Civic Democratic Alliance (ODA), a liberal conservative party, member of the governing coalition.[4] He was the Vice-president of the party from 1998 until 2001, when he was again elected the party´s leader.
In 2002, he returned to the Czech Foreign Service. From 2003 until 2009 he served as the Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the State of Israel. Since October 2009, he has been the Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the Court of St. James‘.[5]
In 2003, he was the co-founder and first executive director of the Program of Atlantic Security Studies (PASS), a part of the think-tank Prague Security Studies Institute (PSSI).
He translated more than fifty works of fiction, drama and poetry, of mostly contemporary American and British writers, including works by James Baldwin, Norman Mailer, Joseph Heller, E.L. Doctorow, Nadine Gordimer, Toni Morrison, Tom Stoppard et al. He translated films and short stories of Woody Allen, and wrote a monograph on his life and work (1990). He translated also non-fiction works by Henry Kissinger, Madeleine Albright, Joshua Muravchik et al. From Hebrew he translated the memories of Amos Oz A Tale of Love and Darkness.
With his first wife he co-authored a play, The Poor Mouth (1985) based on a short novel by Myles na gCopaleen (Brian O'Nolan).
He has written and published many essays and articles on foreign policy, current affairs and literature. He co-authored the book Freedom of Information in the Legal System of the Czech Republic (2002).