Iveta Kokyová is a poet and fiction writer from Hradec Králové. In 1989, she trained and briefly worked as a machine mechanic, later also as a cleaner or packer. She operated as a field worker with the Hradec Králové City Council, and a consultant for the deaf at the Tichý svět (Silent World) organization. While working, she graduated from social work at the Evangelical Academy in Prague and began working as an external editor and presenter for the Roma internet television station Romea TV. Alongside her profession, she also got a degree from Romani studies at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University. She works also as a Romani language instructor and runs socio-cultural seminars for teachers and social workers.
She was introduced to writing short stories in Romani and Czech by the Romologist Hana Syslová. She has published e.g. in the Romano voďi magazine, on the Romea.cz, A2 and Kamarádi websites, and on the Kher publishing house website. Her stories “Regína a víly” and “Čendeš” (“Regína and the Fairies” and “Čendeš”) appeared in the e-book Otcův duch a jiné pohádky romských autorů (The Father's Spirit and Other Fairy Tales by Romani Writers, Kher, 2012). In 2016, “Čendeš” was adapted for stage and performed by students of the Department of Social Sciences at the University of Pardubice. Her short story “Imaginární pes” (“The Imaginary Dog”) and the cycle Dítě (Child) have been published in the e-book Moji milí – Sbírka romské narativní prózy (My Dear Ones – A Collection of Romani Narrative Prose, Kher, 2014), and her short story cycle from the 1970s Rodina je jen jedna / Fameľija hin ča jekh (There’s Only One Family) was released as part of the Slunce zapadá už ráno (The Sun Sets Already in the Morning, Knihovna Václava Havla, 2014) Romani women’s prose collection. Her text “E čhibakri čhaj” / “The Naughty Girl” (Kher 2018) has appeared in the anthology O mulo! Short Stories about the Spirits of the Dead, and in the anthology Samet blues (Velvet Blues, Kher, 2021), she published the short story “Kamav soduj” / “I Want Both”. The short story “Zničili naše životy” (“They Destroyed Our Lives”) came out in the anthology Podphandle mašľičkenca / Tied with Ribbons (Slovo 21 2025). ¨
Kokyová is fluent in Vlax Romani, but in recent years she has been using Slovak Romani as her main language of literary production. She is involved in the activities of Nová škola, o. p. s. – Romano suno and Vaker romanes - and translates from and into Romani. Together with Markéta Hajská, she has translated Sofie Taikonová's graphic novel Žofi Z-4515 from Kalderash into Slovak Romani for Kher.
Photo: Petr zewlakk Vrabec
