Alex Zucker

Alex Zucker (2009)

Alex Zucker (born September 1, 1964) is an American literary translator.

Life and career

Zucker was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey. From ages 4 to 17, he lived in East Lansing, Michigan. He attended college at UMass Amherst, obtaining a Bachelor of Science in Zoology in 1986. In 1990, he received a master's in international affairs from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, with a certificate from the Institute on East Central Europe.[1]

During his years in Prague (1990–95), he worked as editor-translator for the English-language section of the Czech News Agency,[2] copy editor–translator for the English-language newspaper Prognosis,[3] and freelance translator for a variety of Czech- and English-language cultural reviews and litmags, including Raut,[4] Trafika,[3] Yazzyk,[3] and Zlatý řez.[5]

From 1996 to 2000, he copyedited for Swing,[6] Condé Nast Traveler, Interview (magazine), and Vanity Fair (magazine), as well as for Aperture publishing house[7] and Bookforum.

From 2002 to 2004, Zucker taught Czech at the NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies.

In 2010, Zucker won the National Translation Award for his translation of Petra Hůlová's début novel of 2002, All This Belongs to Me.[8]

In 2011, he received a Creative Writing Fellowship[9] from the National Endowment for the Arts to support his translation of the 1931 Czech classic Marketa Lazarová (novel), by Vladislav Vančura.

Currently Zucker lives in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Selected translations

Zucker has also translated lyrics by Filip Topol,[25] leader of the Czech rock group Psí vojáci (Dog Soldiers).[26]

References

  1. Institute on East Central Europe at Columbia University
  2. ČTK English-language news service
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Alexander Zaitchik: "Let the Kazoos Sound: A Decade of English Press in Prague," Think magazine, no. 50, Nov/Dec 2001
  4. Bigmag: Časopisy v Česku po 1989
  5. Bigmag: Časopisy v Česku po 1989
  6. Richard Rubin: "Swing Magazine Ceases Publication," The Chronicle Online, Nov. 20, 1998
  7. Aperture Foundation
  8. "ALTA Honors Translations of Czech, Chinese Works," Oct. 26, 2010
  9. NEA Writers' Corner: 2012a Literature Fellowships: Translation Projects
  10. "First post-89 anthology of Czech plays in English brought out in New York," News, Český rozhlas, June 16, 2009
  11. MoMA: Milos Forman, A Retrospective
  12. The Drug of Art: Selected poems of Ivan Blatný
  13. The Unlucky Man in the Yellow Cap, FringeNYC festival, August 2006
  14. Felicia R. Lee: "Survivor's Play Bears Witness to the Holocaust," New York Times, Aug. 10, 2006
  15. City Sister Silver at Catbird Press
  16. Neil Bermel: "Velvet Evolution," New York Times Book Review, March 4, 2001
  17. University of Dallas at Texas Annotations, Oct. 5, 2002
  18. Elena Lappin at the Royal Literary Fund
  19. "Book Review: Daylight in Nightclub Inferno: Czech Fiction From the Post-Kundera Generation," Central Europe Review, vol. 1, no. 6, August 1999
  20. "Alexandra Büchler: crossing the frontiers of language," Czech Books, Český rozhlas, May 22, 2005
  21. "Three Anthologies of Czech Writing in English," Transcript 6 ("Iron and Velvet: A Decade of New Czech Writing")
  22. "Paul Wilson: translating modern Czech writers," The Book Show, ABC Radio National, March 21, 2008
  23. Prague: A Traveler's Literary Companion
  24. "Jáchym Topol: A Trip to the Train Station," Literary Anthology of Visegrad 4 Countries, Budapest, 2007
  25. Filip Topol & Agon Orchestra
  26. Psí vojáci official Web site

External links