Alex Zucker (born September 1, 1964) is an American literary translator.

Life and career

Zucker was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey. From ages 4 to 17, he lived in East Lansing, Michigan. He attended college at University of Massachusetts Amherst, obtaining a Bachelor of Science in Zoology in 1986. In 1990, he received a master's in international affairs from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, with a certificate from the Institute on East Central Europe. During his years in Prague (1990–95), he worked as editor-translator for the English-language section of the Czech News Agency, copy editor–translator for the English-language newspaper Prognosis, and freelance translator for a variety of Czech and English-language cultural reviews and literary magazines, including Raut, Trafika, Yazzyk, and Zlatý řez. From 1996 to 2000, he copyedited for Swing, Condé Nast Traveler, Interview (magazine), and Vanity Fair (magazine), as well as for Aperture publishing house and Bookforum. From 2002 to 2004, Zucker taught Czech at the NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies. In 2010, Zucker won the National Translation Award for his translation of Petra Hůlová's début novel of 2002, All This Belongs to Me. In 2011, he received a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts to support his translation of the 1931 Czech classic Marketa Lazarová, by Vladislav Vančura.

Selected translations

Zucker has also translated lyrics by Filip Topol, leader of the Czech rock group Psí vojáci (Dog Soldiers).