It wasn‘t that we were jumping with joy at being in the West, where roasted pigeons just fly into your mouth
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Jarmila Binarová was born on 6 August 1942 in Zlín. She spent her childhood in the Wallachian evangelical village of Zádveřice, in an environment that shaped her love of nature and books. After graduating from secondary school, she studied at the Pedagogical Institute in Ostrava, where she met her future husband, the writer and dissident Ivan Binar. After the August 1968 invasion, the couple faced persecution and surveillance by State Security. In 1972-1973, Ivan Binar was imprisoned in Bory for his anti-militarist satire, performed at a theatre club in Ostrava. After her husband signed Charter 77, the family became the target of intense pressure, which eventually led to the decision to go into exile. They first settled in Austria and later in Munich, where they lived among the Czech community and actively participated in cultural and literary life. In the 1980s, Jarmila Binarová ran the Arkýř bookshop, which focused on Czech and Slovak literature. In 1994 she moved to Prague, where she lives with her family (2025). She is a holder of a certificate from the Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic for her participation in the resistance and resistance against communism.
