Emil Hakl (aka Jan Beneš) was born in Prague in 1958. After graduating from the Jaroslav Jezek Conservatorium, he worked as a copywriter and as the editor of the literary magazine Tvar. In the late 80s, Hakl founded an informal literary group called Moderní Analfabet. Hakl made his literary debut with two collections of poetry, followed shortly by a collection of stories Konec sveta [The End of the World] (2001). Since then Hakl has written a novel, Intimní schránka Sabriny Black [Sabrina Black’s Intimate Box] (2002), a novella, O rodicích a detech [On Kids and Parents] (2002), and a second collection of stories, O létajících objektech [On Flying Objects] (2004). O rodicích a detech (2002) won the distinguished Magnesia Litera Prize and has been adapted into a feature film by Vladimír Michálek.