Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Daniel Hevier: Author – Slovakia

2016; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 54; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/bkb.2016.0074

1918-6983

Milena Milutinovic,

Education, Psychology, and Social Research

Daniel HevierAuthor – Slovakia Milena Milutinovic Click for larger view View full resolution daniel hevier is regarded as one of the foremost writers for children and adults in Slovakia, as well as in the former Czechoslovakia in general. A most prolific writer, he has published hundreds of works in a wide array of genres. Many of his books have been translated into other languages. They can, for example, be read in Czech, Hungarian, German, Norwegian, Polish, Serbo-Croatian, and Finnish. Hevier was born in 1955 in Bratislava. After receiving his degree from the Department of Arts in Language, Literature, and Aesthetics at Comenius University, he worked as an editor of literary programs in Czechoslovak radio. In the late 1980s, he became Chief Editor of Mladé letá Publishing, the main publishing house for children and young adults in Slovakia, before starting his own publishing house—HEVI. During that time, Hevier was also writing. He published his first book at the age of eighteen—a collection of poetry—and has since written poetry, prose, essays, and plays, as well as television and film scripts. Hevier is noted not only for his literary achievements but also for what they meant for the literary movement in Slovakia. This is connected to the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, which triggered a certain stagnation in Slovak literature, and many writers were under pressure to publish works that would be approved by the Communist regime. Hevier was part of a generation that sought to liberate itself from the type of literature that had been published during the 1970s and early 1980s, because it was heavily influenced by the “official” or state approved Communist ideology. Hevier’s generation claimed more creative freedom in their writing and revived the Slovak literary production. One notable feature of the new literary movement was that there were more elements of playfulness in Slovak literature, and in fact, “playful” is a useful word in describing Hevier’s literary production for children—which consists of, for example, poetry, fairy tales, and comics. His stories span from symbolic to Andersenian to nonsense, parody, word games, sci-fi stories, parables, and moral stories. He believes that both author and reader are vital to the creative process of a text, and he endeavors to attract his readers with colorful stories that can stimulate the child’s natural ability to use their own imagination to expand the story or create an image of the real world. Hevier has received a number of national and international awards. Several of his books have been on the IBBY Honour list. In 2012, he received a prestigious prize from the Secretary of Culture of The Slovak Republic for his achievements as an author of literature for children and young adults. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY Nevyplazuj jazyk na leva [Don’t Stick Your Tongue Out at the Lion]. Illus. Svetozár Mydlo. Bratislava: Mladé letá, 1982. Print. Google Scholar Krajina Agord [The Gurdland]. Illus. Daniel Hevier. Bratislava: HEVI, 2001. Print. Google Scholar Nám sa ešte nechce spat [Beddy-Bye Stories]. Illus. Ľuba Končeková – Veselá. Bratislava: Buvik, 1990. Print. Google Scholar Vianočná pošta [Christmas Post]. Ilust. Lucia Tallová. Bratislava: Trio Publishing, 2011. Print. Google Scholar Svet zachránia rozprávky [The World Will Be Saved through Fairy Tales]. Illus. Daniel Hevier. Bratislava: Trio Publishing, 2014. Print. [End Page 49] Google Scholar Copyright © 2016 Bookbird, Inc.