M  a r  t  i  n     P  E  T  I  Š  K  A   Institut  Martina  a  Eduarda  Petiškových 

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EDUARD AND MARTIN PETISKA

Petiška had been attracted to stories and people's fates since childhood. He began as a listener (his famous book of German fairytales, Daisy, is based on stories his grandmother used to tell him), and later a passionate reader, who began to try writing prose of his own.
After 1945 he studied Comparative Literature and Germanics, but attended other classes as well, including aesthetics and medicine. After the liberation he immediately involved himself in cultural life, at first (while still a student) as a poet. He started publishing prose and poetry, wrote articles for newspapers and children's magazines, was active in Umělecká beseda (an artists' union), and worked in film and radio. He was also an active member of the Czech Writers Syndicate (Syndikát českých spisovatelů). He planned to shoot "film poetry" (a sort of predecessor of today's video clips) with Konstantin Biebl.
These activities were suddenly disrupted after February 1948. He married Alena, a teacher from an old family of teachers, in the same year (at the age of 24). His wife was a great support to him during his whole life, creating a harmonious home in which Petiška's work could flourish. She wrote memoirs about her life, which are freely available on Wikimedia Commons (here).^[2]
Their son, Martin PETISKA, who later became a writer himself, was a frequent source of inspiration to his father. You can find Martin in Petiška's books: Martin's Reading Book, How Martin Got Lost, etc.
Petiška had many friends in artistic circles; he associated especially with people who, like himself, were marginalized during the 1950s. These included writers Jaroslav Seifert, František Hrubín, Bohumil Hrabal and Emanuel Frynta; and artists Jiří Kolář, Kamil Lhoták, Zdeněk Miler, Karel Teissig, Vladimír Komárek, Zdeněk Sklenář, Vilém Plocek who illustrated his books, Cyril Bouda and Helena Zmatlíková.
An unofficial club originated in his apartment in Brandýs during the 1950s – it served as a meeting place for his friends where they could read their writings and discuss innovations in the world of arts.