Marek Vadas: From the Depths of Africa
– Slovakia
Born in 1971 in Košice. He studied aesthetics and Slovak Language and literature at the Faculty of Arts at the Comenius University in Bratislava. He made his debut with the postmodern Malý román [Little Novel] (1994), which is based on associations in an effort to avoid monotony. The author’s books from the African environment are a remarkable work. This mysterious continent attracts him so much that he repeatedly returns there and discovers different areas. Topics related to the African environment have become the main theme for him, beginning with the book Liečiteľ [The Healer] (2006) and following with the collections Čierne na čiernom [Black on Black] (2013) and Zlá štvrť [The Bad Quarter] (2018). He cleverly combines and blends elements of magic and fantasy with reality or ordinariness. He also addresses the issues of life and death, which are taking on a completely new meaning in the African environment. In 2007, he won the Anasoft Litera Award in which he succeeded with his collection of short stories The Healer.