Milan Ferko

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Milan Ferko (born December 14, 1929 in Veľké Rovné , Bytča ; † November 26, 2010 ) was a journalist and Slovak writer .

biography

After attending school, he studied law at the Comenius University in Bratislava , graduating in 1953. During his studies he began working as a journalist and was initially an editor for the newspaper Smena . After he was an editor for the weekly newspaper Kultúrny život (Cultural Life) between 1955 and 1956 , he founded the monthly magazine Mladá tvorba (Young Years) in 1956 , of which he was editor until 1960. Subsequently, between 1960 and 1969 he was editor of the newspaper Slovenských pohľadov (Slovak Outlook).

He also began his writing career in the early 1950s and made his debut as a student in 1951 with the anthology Zväzácka česť . After the poetry volumes Odkaz (1960), Svet na dlani (1961) and Rovnováha (1966) he devoted himself to writing children's and youth literature . His most important publications in this area include the books Tvoji bratia, Winnetou (1967), Pirátski králi a kráľovskí piráti (1968), Pirátske dobrodružstvá (1970) and Bohatier v býčej koži (1980).

He had particular success with the two-part children's books Keby som mal pušku (When I have a gun, 1969) and Keby som mal dievča (When I have a girl, 1974), which were filmed in 1972 and 1976 by director Štefan Uher .

In the 1970s , novels on historical topics followed, such as Krádež svätoštefanskej koruny , a story set in the 15th century , the three-volume Svätopluk (1975) about Sventopluk, the third ruler of Great Moravia, and Jánošík (1978) about the robber leader and national hero Juraj Jánošík . Another novel with a historical reference was Medzi ženou a Rímom (1980) about the life of Marcus Aurelius .

He later wrote novels about social life in Slovakia such as Svadba bez nevesty (1980, wedding without a bride), Svadba bez ženicha (1982, wedding without a groom) and Otváranie studničiek (1988).

Ferko, whose works have also appeared in Czech , Hungarian , Russian , Ukrainian , Serbian , Slovenian , English and German translations under the pseudonyms A. Binderov and František Milko , has received several awards and received the Fraňa Kráľa Prize (1960 and 1963) .

After the collapse of communism as a result of the Velvet Revolution that began in November 1989, Ferko also began to be politically active and was one of the signatories of the Declaration of Sovereignty of the Slovak Republic in 1991 and Language and Law in 1995. Between 1994 and 1998 he was head of the National Institute of Culture ( Matica slovenská ) and as head of department in the Ministry of Culture dealt with the Slovak language and literature. This made him one of the closest employees of the then Minister of Culture Ivan Hudec .

In addition to Milan Ferko, his older brother Vladimír Ferko and his sons Andrej Ferko and Jerguš Ferko were also active as writers. His son is the painter Ľubomír Ferko .

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personal data
SURNAME Ferko, Milan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Slovak writer
DATE OF BIRTH December 14, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Veľké Rovné , Bytča
DATE OF DEATH November 26, 2010