Milada Součková (1898–1983)

Milada Součková was born to a wealthy family in Prague, Czechoslovakia. She attended the Minerva High School and then studied natural sciences and medicine (which she never practiced) at Charles University in Prague, from which she graduated in 1923. She went for further study to the University of Lausanne, where she met her future husband, Zdeněk Rykr, a painter. She wrote for several newspapers and journals and in 1936, joined the Prague Linguistic Circle. During the German Occupation of the country in World War II, Součková's husband committed suicide and she left Prague to live in the countryside. After the war, she was appointed cultural attaché of the Czechoslovak embassy in Washington. In 1948, following the Communist takeover in her homeland, she chose exile and remained in the USA. She worked as a librarian at the Widener Library at Harvard University and wrote poetry in Czech and theoretical prose works in English. She's now considered one of the most important Czech modernists.