Trafika photo

Trafika was an international literary magazine edited in Prague, Czech Republic and New York City between 1993 and 1999. Trafika published the poetry and prose of emerging and established authors, with an emphasis on introducing the work of writers who were unknown or little known to English-language readers. In seven issues, Trafika published the work of over 120 authors writing in over 30 languages.

Trafika contained no reviews or criticism, but did include conversations with writers, including Miroslav Holub, Arnošt Lustig, György Konrád, Paul Bowles, and Tomaž Šalamun.

Selected contributors

(Trafika 1, autumn 1993): Bo Carpelan, Luis Cabalquinto, Don DeLillo, Miroslav Holub, Arnošt Lustig, Josef Škvorecký, Lukáš Tomin

(Trafika 2, spring 1994): Yu Hua, Milan Milišić, Joyce Carol Oates, Drago Jančar, Jachým Topol, Czesław Miłosz, Gilbert Sorrentino, György Konrád

(Trafika 3, summer 1994): Aleš Debeljak, Do Phuoc Tien, Norma Cole, Yves Simon, Ludvík Vaculík, Shuntarō Tanikawa, Feride Çiçekoğlu, Yuriy Tarnawsky, Yang Lian, Jim Krusoe

(Trafika 4, winter 1994): Lars Jakobson, Denis Johnson, Mia Couto, José Eduardo Agualusa, Paul Bowles, Kristien Hemmerechts, Roberto Tejada, John Barth

(Trafika 5, autumn 1995): Zafer Şenocak, Javier Marías, Tomaž Šalamun, Stephan Eibel, Aamer Hussein, Joost Zwagerman, Pierre Martory, Tor Ulven

(Trafika 6, autumn 1997): Slobodan Selenić, Ignacio Martínez de Pisón, Khaled Mattawa, Nina Bouraoui, Martin M. Šimečka, Dana Ranga, Yusef Komunyakaa, Steve Sem-Sandberg, Hatif Janabi

(Trafika 7, autumn 1999): Natasza Goerke, Herberto Hélder, Marcin Świetlicki, Eleni Sikelianos, Mohammad Choukri, Uche Nduka, Amir Or, Miłosz Biedrzycki, Péter Nádas

Founders

Dorsey Dunn, Michael Lee, Scott Rogers, Alfredo Sanchez, Jeffrey Young

Publisher

Trafika was published by Trafika Press Inc., a not-for-profit company registered in New York State.

Board of Advisors (status at 1999)

Tracy Cabanis (Alfred A. Knopf); George Dillehay (Publication Management); Morgan Entrekin (Grove/Atlantic); Jonathan Fanton (The MacArthur Foundation); Daniel Halpern (Ecco Press); Stephen Heintz (EastWest Institute); Peter Kaufman (TV Books); Jeri Laber (Human Rights Watch); Lewis Lapham (Harper’s); Maristella Lorch (The Italian Academy, New York); Wendy Luers (Foundation for a Civil Society); Marley Rusoff (Bantam, Doubleday & Dell); William Schwalbe (William Morrow & Co.); Elisabeth Sifton (Farrar, Straus & Giroux); Rebecca Sinkler (formerly of the New York Times); Lise Stone.

Financial Support:

The Nation Institute; The Calouste-Gulbenkian Foundation; National Endowment for the Arts; Council for Literary Magazines and Presses; Central and East European Book Publishing Project; Open Society Fund-Prague; Czech Ministry of Culture, among others.