Biographie
Blanka Kubesová, who wrote the original story of Modry kámen (2004)(TV), was born during the WWII in the occupied capital of Czechoslovakia, Prague. Her father was a physician, Dr Jaromír Kubias, who lost his private practice after the Communist takeover in 1948. As a child from a bourgeois family, Blanka was not allowed to study and worked in administration of various national cultural institutions, most notably in Krátký Film. There she met her husband and they left Czechoslovakia after the Russian occupation in 1968. First they moved to Canada and later joined Blanka's father who established himself in Switzerland. They have two daughters and several grandchildren.
Blanka always loved poetry and the Czech language and started to write early. Her work generally follows the ground plan of the traditional psychological prose. Her first published novel, Romance pro Zorzinu, appeared in exile in Switzerland in 1985, followed by Deník Leosky K. (Canada, 1987). The novel shows the absurdity and anxiety of life in her homeland in 1950s; the revised second edition, entitled Od skoly se prásí, was published in Prague in 1993. In the interpretation of Hana Maciuchová, Deník was published as an audio book. Kocicí dlazba (Germany, 1988) is considered to be reader-intensive but rewarding text, Horror Hill, jako zrnko písku (1994) is about her colorful brother who calls himself Jerry. Blanka won the 1st prize with a piece for the radio O bráchovi Jerrym in 1992.
Short stories with focus on the society and social themes Perlový svet (1996) and psychological novel Zabky na vode (2000) were both published in the Czech Republic.
The film Modry kámen (2004) (The blue stone) is based on Blanka's novel Cerná v bílé (Black in white) that won the second prize in the Czech Book Club in 1999.
Blanka was a finalist in Alfréd Radok Prizes for best original Czech and Slovak plays in 2004 with Otec s velkým 'O' (Father with a Big 'F'). The prose Otec s velkým 'O' was added to the second edition of Vltavenka (The woman of Vltava), a story of an extraordinary woman based on authentic materials. Otec s velkým 'O' was then used for the screenplay written by Blanka and Ivana Tajovská of Bílý strelec (2014) (The white shooter) which became the 8th episode of the series Stopy zivota (2014-) (Footprints of life). It was broadcast by TV Barrandov and Jan Tríska excelled in the main role of Otec (The father).
Blanka's play, Deník Leosky K., had a premiere in Prague in 2006. That play was adopted from Blanka's earlier novel.
In the novel Baletky v modrém (2012), Blanka untangles the authentic fates of a prima ballerina and her two pupils. The highly emotional testimony of a refugee from the Philippines is the subject of the 2014 novel Nevesta z Filipín. In her last novel Kapky stestí a nadeje (2015), she tells the stories of four Jewish girls from the German occupied Poland. The novel is based on the memories of one of them.
Blanka cooperated with other authors on the book Kolja, to neznáte mého psa (2004) and with Iveta Kollertová on the true story Svlecená do naha (2010). She participated in thematic collections Úteky zeleznou oponou (Curych, 1983), Benefice (Toronto, 1993), Setkání a hovory (Almanach SVÚ, Mnichov, 1998) and Osudy (Brno, 2001).
