Václav Renč

Who was Václav Renč?

Václav Renč was a Czech poet, dramatist and translator. Like other catholic ruralistic writers, his themes included God, traditions and the countryside.

Renč was born in Vodochody. He graduated from the College of Philosophy of Charles University in Prague in 1936. He edited the journal Rozhledy po literatuře together with František Halas. Then he worked as an editor at several journals, later as a publishing editor. He was also a dramaturgist in Olomouc theater and in Zemské divadlo theater in Brno in 1947.

After the 1948 communist coup in Czechoslovakia he and other catholic writers were hated by the regime. In 1951, Renč was arrested and in 1952 he was condemned to 25 years in prison without any evidence. He was released in 1962, rehabilitated in 1968. He became dramaturg operetta dramaturgist in Olomouc in 1969. He died, aged 61, in Brno.