Tomáš Přidal: A monkey in the mirror and a strawberry with guillotine

– Czechia

Tomáš Přidal is a poet, author, artist and a musician. He was born half a century plus one year ago in Brno and studied Czech language and fine arts at Masaryk University in his native town. He currently works as a secondary school teacher. Since 1996, he has published eight books – Všechno má barvu mýdla (Everything has the Colour of Soap, 1996), Škytavka z hlediska literární teorie (A Hiccough from the Viewpoint of Literary Theory, 1998), Člověk v mé vaně (Man in my Bath, 2000), Úschovna rozhovorů (Deposited Conversations, 2003), Kokosová opice (The Coconut Ape, 2004), Hlasy v sušence (Voices in a Biscuit, 2007), Pikantní poldové (Piquant Cops, 2011) and Čalouník (Upholsterer, 2019) – which clearly and concisely convey the constant features of his poetics: nonsensicality, imagination, playfulness and dreaming. As a side note: in his new book, readers can find a monkey disappearing in a mirror, a strawberry executed by guillotine and a Christmas tree smoking marijuana.