Pavol Rankov: Kind Humor
– Slovakia
He was born on September 16, 1964 in Poprad. He studied librarian at the Faculty of Arts at the Comenius University in Bratislava, where he also works at the Department of Library and Information Science. In addition to teaching, he focuses on concepts and theories in the field of mass media, advertising, information technology and culture. He lives in Bratislava. He made his debut with a collection of short stories S odstupom času [In Hindsight] (1995), which is characterized by a continuation of the traditions of world and domestic fantastic realism, temporal and spatial unmoorage, dealing with elements of mystery, mystification, irrationality and emphasis on a surprising point. In the summer of 2001, he published his second collection of short stories called My a oni / Oni a my [Us and Them / Them and Us]. Since then, he wrote many art and professional books, including the historical novel Matky [Mothers], or Legenda o jazyku [The Legend of Language]. In 2020, he published fairy-tales for children Princezné a princovia [Princesses and Princes] – a book of unhappy stories that will touch their hearts. In the same year, he won the 14th European Book Prize for the book Stalo sa prvého septembra (alebo inokedy) [It Happened on the First of September (or Another Time)].