Martin Milan Šimečka

Journalist and writer

Martin Milan Šimečka is a Slovak journalist, writer, and senior editor at the independent Slovak news outlet Denník N. He was born in 1957 in Bratislava in a family of political dissidents persecuted under the communist regime. He was denied access to university education due to his family background and worked as a manual laborer while writing samizdat (underground) literature. In 1984, he published his autobiographical novel Džin ("The Genie") in samizdat. After the 1989 Velvet Revolution, he founded and served as editor-in-chief of the weekly Domino fórum, and later became editor-in-chief of the Slovak daily newspaper SME. From 2006 to 2016, he worked for the Czech weekly Respekt, including a period as editor-in-chief. His essays and columns often blend personal reflection with political analysis, and have addressed the rise of populism and the fragility of democratic institutions.