Ľuba Lesná (born 21 March 1954) is ĽubaLesnáa contemporary Slovak investigative journalist, filmmaker, novelist, and playwright. While her earlier work focused on plays, since Czechoslovakia's Velvet Revolution she has worked primarily as a journalist, writing also several books and a novel, Prípad medička (The Medical Student Case), being rewritten as a play. Lesná worked with Prime Minister Iveta Radičová, as an analyst in the Slovak Office of the Government from 2010-2012.
Education
Faculty of Arts, Comenius University, Bratislava
Professional Biography
Verejnosť newspaper, deputy chief editor
1990-1992: Czechoslovak public television
1992-1997: Radio Free Europe, reporter & political analyst
1997-2002: Slovak Television, reporter & political talk show host
2004-2005: Joj Television
2006-2009: The Slovak Spectator, reporter & political affairs writer
2010-2012: Office of the Government, Slovak Republic, analyst
Books
Non-fiction
Únos prezidentovho syna, alebo, Krátke dejiny tajnej služby [The Kidnapping of the President's Son, or a Short History of the Secret Service] (1998). Bratislava: GMT. Únos demokracie. Zo zákulisia slovenskej tajnej služby [The Abduction of Democracy. The Slovak Secret Service Backstage] (2001). Prague: G plus G (); and Bratislava: Institute for Public Affairs (IVO) ().
"two ... books about the most famous cases linked to the country’s intelligence service (SIS) between 1994 and 1998"
Radičová, Iveta, and Ľuba Lesná. Krajina hrubých čiar [Country of Full Stops] (2013). Bratislava: Ikar.
Fiction
Prípad medička [The Medical Student Case] (2007), a novel. Bratislava: Petrus.
"...based on a real murder committed in 1976. The book is a grotesque picture of the totalitarian system in the former Czechoslovakia."
"In the 1980s a young doctor was killed and 8 people arrested for murdering her ... But a question remains – what really happened?"
Film
Únos demokracie [The Abduction of Democracy] (2002), documentary, with Mário Homolka, director
"...a documentary film about the 1995 abduction of Michal Kováč, Jr., son of the former Slovak president..., which some believe was carried out by allies of former Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar within the SIS secret service."
Plays
Skamenelina [The Fossil] (1986) -- for radio
Klytaimnéstra [The Klytaimnéstra] (1988) Báthoryčka [Madame Báthory] (1988) Slová, slová, slová [Words, words, words] (1988)
Awards
The Czechoslovak Egon Erwin Kisch Prize for non-fiction, 1999, for Únos prezidentovho syna [The Kidnapping of the President's Son] Investigative Journalism Award, for courage, 2007, Institute for Public Affairs (IVO), Slovak Republic First Place, Slovak Journalism Awards, 2007, Slovak Syndicate of Journalists (for "Cervanová Witnesses Break 30-Year Silence", The Slovak Spectator, December 18, 2006) Second Place, Slovak Journalism Awards, 2009, Slovak Syndicate of Journalists (for "Border Killings Remain Unpunished Decades Later", The Slovak Spectator, October 13, 2008)
Reviews
"The novel Prípad medička [The Medical Student Case] is and is not about the actual murder of medical student Ľudmila Cervanová. It is, because Ľuba Lesná became familiar with this affair over a long period of time and discovered many facts and a lot of information used in the book. And it is not, because the novel is written as a literary fiction about the abduction and murder of a character, medical student Alena Hronská. Why did the famous author of non-fiction books (The Abduction of the President's Son, The Abduction of Democracy) not stick to pure facts this time? And why did she decide to risk telling her own version of this affair? Because, as she says herself in the book's introduction, according to pure facts and documents it should be clear to readers that this case did not take place the way that official police and judicial versions described it. The question — so what happened? — remains unanswered." (Martin Mojžiš, .týždeň )