Michal Šamko graduated from the secondary school of law and social work in Kolín, worked in healthcare, as an activist, politician for the Roma Civic Initiative, chairman of the Wakeren — Speak civic association, lecturer in educational programmes on Roma history, businessman in the building industry, and today works as a consultant for the sale of medical supplies.
He is a fiction and poetry writer. He published his first Romani-Czech poem in Mladý svět weekly in the late 1990s. Among his works rank e.g. the short story “Papuskeri paramisi” / “Grandfather's Fairy Tale” (Romano džaniben 2000, in book form in the anthology Čalo voďi / The Nourished Soul, Museum of Romani Culture, 2007); the prose “Košiben” / “The Curse” (Romano džaniben 1-2/2002); the poems “Amari čhaj” / “Our Little Girl”; “Andro sados” / “In the Orchard”; “Phurde, balvaľori” / “Blow, Gentle Breeze” (Romano džaniben 1-2/2004); the fairy tale “Výstřel” / “A Shot” (PLAV, monthly magazine for world literature 6/2008), the reminiscent prose “Čirlatuno dživipen” / “How We Used to Live” (collective authorship: My Dear Ones: A Collection of Romani Narrative Prose, el. Kher 2014, in print in the anthology Nothing but Beauty Everywhere, 2021) and his first independent book of fiction, the young-adult novel Májky a totemy / Maypoles and Totems (Kher 2023).
This partly autobiographical debut transports the reader to the author's childhood in the Podkrkonoší region of the 1970s, also thanks to the illustrations by Petr Polák, the court artist of Deník N. The book was shortlisted for the Magnesia Litera Award in the children’s and young adult category and included on the list of the 30 Best Books for Children and Young Adults.
Photo: Petr zewlakk Vrabec
