A literary scholar’s work is quite unusual. It does not generate accolades or headlines. Nevertheless, a good literary scholar can change the way we read books and our understanding of their authors and their time. And a good teacher can do something even more valuable – pass on this skill to others.
Marta Součková’s unexpected passing has deprived Slovak literary culture of someone who has dedicated her erudition, time and attention to it. She leaves behind work, books, students, colleagues and projects that will resonate beyond Slovakia.
But the most important of these are the books which we will keep coming back to and the literature we will continue to think about.
— Dado Nagy, Slovak Literary Centre
I have recently been in touch with Marta by phone and email – she always asks if I’m writing. And I say, not yet but if I do, I will send it to her. I tell myself: send it to Marta, she’ll be tough and frank and that’s the best thing an editor can do. That is how she treated me twenty-five years ago, when I first started to write. I was scared of her, angry and offended as only a new author can be. Then I realised that someone like Marta is a gift and revisited all her critical comments. Then we became friends. Marta, last week I started again. It happened all of a sudden, the first sentence just popped into my head while I was cooking. You have often been in my thoughts. I will miss you, and not just as an editor and critic.
— Monika Kompaníková, writer
It is with great sadness that we have received the news of the passing of Professor Marta Součková. She led a creative writing workshop at Studia Academica Slovaca with us as recently as on Monday 10 August 2026. We are devastated and in shock… Rest in peace!
— Studia Academica Slovaca
“I’m on the train, have a temperature of 38.8, speak tomorrow…”
Alas, we will never speak again. Today, on 12 August 2026, we learned that the university teacher, literature scholar, and editor, Professor Marta Součková, has left us forever. She was a highly respected personality, our treasured friend. She taught many generations to write. She served on our juries in 2008, 2016, 2021 and was meant to be a juror again in 2027…
We are struggling for words … Marta….
— Anasoft Litera
The saddest possible news has just hit us. This morning a precious person, professor of Slovak literature, literary critic and juror, but first and foremost, our beloved friend Marta Součková has left us. She has been with [the summer school for young writers] Medziriadky [BetweenLines] right from the start, helping to shape the current generation of young authors.
We struggle to find words capable of expressing the loss felt by our community. As a juror, Marta was strict and rigorous, and in commenting on texts she never minced her words. But this was only how she spoke about texts, whereas she always approached the young authors with an open heart, friendship and empathy. We could share with her our creative crises as well as our successes.
Sunday, 23 August, will be the first day of this year’s Summer School of Literature, when we were to meet Marta again – it would have been her 17th time at Medziriadky. All of us on the current organisational team have benefited from Marta’s stinging but always well-meant comments. We looked forward to her heartfelt hugs. Her absence will be acutely felt for years to come.
Marta was a pillar of our young literary community. Always ready to read our work and keep analysing and talking and thinking about it. She is irreplaceable.
Marti, we promise to carry on, so that you can keep being proud of us. You remain between the lines.
— Medziriadky
Marta Součková has left us. A piece of news we still can’t believe, particularly those of us who worked with her until her very last moments. Marta was not just a literary scholar, teacher and editor but first and foremost the embodiment of professionalism and quality. She was someone who remained true to her mission in both her private and professional life, from her time as an editor at the publishing house and daily Smena, through a plethora of literary activities to her work as professor at Prešov University.
She had a wide-ranging grasp of many areas of literature and was indispensable as a collaborator and supporter in a variety of activities. Across her diverse and demanding activities she never ceased to be a defender of truth – both in life and in literature. Initially as a contributor to and later as editor of the journal Romboid she helped to mould it into its present form. She has left not just our editorial team bereft, but also many of our shared plans and ideas. That makes the news of her passing even more painful.
My heartfelt condolences to her family, friends and colleagues. We will all miss you hugely.
— Peter Juščák, Chair of the Association of Slovak Writers
Mourning a huge loss for Slovak literature. The name of literary scholar Marta Součková, who passed away unexpectedly on 12 August, may not be familiar for many in the English-speaking world. But it really ought to be, as she helped many contemporary writers whose works have appeared in English translation hone their style. Many of them acknowledged her huge contribution, sharing their grief and gratitude along with literary critics, publishers and her students (both at university and participants of the many creative writing workshops she led over the years) in an unprecedented outpouring of grief. All have benefited from her guidance and comments, sometimes harsh but always constructive, and her unwavering support and endless capacity for friendship. Drahá Marta, budeš nám všetkým nesmierne chýbať!
— Julia Sherwood, translator
Most of us have known literature only with Marta. She was our shield, protection and certainty, a dynamo tirelessly setting things in motion. We don’t know how we will go on without her. I feel like I have to learn to walk anew, speak anew and think anew. She was a bit of a mother and a bit of a sister – a bit of a teacher and a bit of a colleague. All this in one indivisible unity. This is a scar that will leave a permanent trace.
— Ján Gavura, colleague and co-founder of the publishing house FACE
Are you there, Marta?
Last time I phoned you to discuss the selection of participants for [the young writers’ summer school] the connection was lost in the middle of our conversation. I kept speaking into a void for a while until I realised that you’re no longer at the other end. Now I’m speaking into the void precisely because you are at the other end.
…
Marta’s passing is a painful loss not just for her loved ones but for the entire Slovak literary community. That this is not a mere cliché is evidenced by the first reactions to the news which I still find impossible to accept. In addition to being an extraordinary literary critic, Marta was an institution in Slovak literature in the best sense of the word. Versatility is almost inevitable in the arts but Marta seemed to push the boundaries of what was possible. Other than write literature of her own, she pursued almost every conceivable literary activity with a passion with which even those of us one or more generations her junior could not compete.
I don’t know anyone else who has helped form Slovak literature across generations the way she did: from Nicol Hochholczerová through Maroš Krajňak to Karol Horák. Her contribution to Slovak literature cannot be overestimated. So it won’t be an exaggeration to say that without her, Slovak literary works of the past decade would not be the ones we read following Marta’s countless manuscript edits, her feedback at literary competitions and creative writing workshops for emerging authors.
