František Halas

František Halas (3 October 1901 – 27 October 1949) was a Czech poet, translator and politician. He was one of the most significant Czech lyric poets of the 20th century. His poor background influenced his work as well as his communist views and active involvement in politics.

Life

František Halas was born on 3 October 1901 in Brno, into a family of textile workers. His father, František Sr., was the author of several memoirs. His mother died when he was eight, but his father remarried a few years later. In 1916–1919, he trained as a bookseller. He then worked in a bookstore until 1921. He replaced missing education with avid reading. Like his father, he was involved in the labour movement. His literary beginnings were contributions to the communist magazines Rovnost and Sršatec in 1921.

In 1923, Halas met Bedřich Václavek and together they founded the Brno branch of the Devětsil group of avant-garde artists. After a period of unemployment, work in an insurance company, and compulsory military service (1923–1925), he went to Paris for six months. In 1926, Halas became an editor at the Prague publishing house Orbis. He and Václavek anonymously published the communist satirical magazine Šlehy that year. Halas then became editor-in-chief of the magazines Orbis (1927–1928), Rozhledy (1935–1938) and Čteme (1938). From 1936 to 1942, he was in charge of the První knížka edition for young poets.

Work Halas is best known as a poet. He ranks among the most important Czech poets of the 20th century. Most of his poems have a strong social overtone, which was caused by his growing up in poor conditions. His work reflected the chaos after World War I and before World War II, but it also contains lyric poems that are tender and intimate. His poems are considered simple and understandable. In modern times, his poetic work for children is best known.

Halas translated poetry by foreign authors into Czech. During World War II, he translated works by Polish authors Juliusz Słowacki and Adam Mickiewicz. After the war, he translated Alexander Pushkin's fairy tales in verse, the work of the Hungarian poet Endre Ady, and other. Several cities and towns in the Czech Republic have a street named after Halas, including Prague (Krč), Ostrava, Liberec and Jihlava.

In 1945, Halas became the first Honorary Citizen of Kunštát. The Kunštát Municipal Information Centre houses the Memorial Hall of Poets František Halas and Klement Bochořák with a permanent exhibition on their lives and work. Every year in October, the cultural event Halas' Kunštát with poetry readings takes place in Kunštát.