Gustáv Murín (born 9 April 1959) is a Slovak author and journalist. He has written critically on corruption in Slovak politics. His ''Small World'' was published in France as ''Le monde est petit''. He was president of the PEN centre of Slovakia 2000 – 2004, 2009 – 2011.

Biography

Gustáv Murín was born on 9 April 1959 in the Rača borough of

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

. His father was a university professor. Murín studied biology at the

Comenius University Comenius University Bratislava () is the largest university in Slovakia, with most of its faculties located in Bratislava. It was founded in 1919, shortly after the creation of Czechoslovakia. It is named after Jan Amos Comenius, a 17th-century ...

, graduating in 1984 Murín became active as a writer in the 1980s, contributing to literary magazines including Slovenské pohľady and ''Romboid''. In the 1990s, while working as an assistant professor of biology at the Comenius University, Murín established an

almanac An almanac (also spelled almanack and almanach) is a regularly published listing of a set of current information about one or multiple subjects. It includes information like weather forecasting, weather forecasts, farmers' sowing, planting dates ...

of regional literature ''Central Europe – Now''. In 1994 he was briefly an editor of the Slovak edition of the

Playboy ''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's Lifestyle journalism, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $ ...

magazine. He also organized meetings of young writers in

Budmerice Budmerice () is a village and municipality in western Slovakia in Pezinok District in the Bratislava region. The municipality is most well known for its 19th century manor house. Names and etymology The name comes from Slavic magnate name '' B ...

. Since the early 2000s years, Murín has published a large number of books, typically compilations of newspaper articles dealing with the history of mafia in Slovakia. While his books generally sold well, Murín has been accused by journalists in Slovakia of spreading conspiracy theories and pro-Russian fake news online and through his books. Murín was also as a blogger, spreading conspiracy narratives, including that the

Boston Marathon bombing The Boston Marathon bombing, sometimes referred to as simply the Boston bombing, was an Islamist domestic terrorist attack that took place during the 117th annual Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013. Brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarna ...

was a

hoax A hoax (plural: hoaxes) is a widely publicised falsehood created to deceive its audience with false and often astonishing information, with the either malicious or humorous intent of causing shock and interest in as many people as possible. S ...

. In 2018, he shortly hosted a show about science on

Radio and Television of Slovakia Radio and Television of Slovakia ( ), or RTVS, was a nationwide public broadcasting, state-funded organisation in Slovakia. The organisation was created in 2011 following a merger of Slovenská televízia (Slovak Television) with Slovensk ...

, but was soon replaced after public backlash. Later that year, the

fired Murín from his faculty position after the writer harassed and threatened a journalism student. In January 2025, Murín was appointed acting director of the Slovak Literary Centre by the culture minister Martina Šimkovičová. His appointment was met with resistance from the staff of the Centre, who accused Murín of authoritarian management style as well as promoting ideas "at odds with democratic values". In May 2025, Murín participated at the ''World of Books'' exhibition of books in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

, where he caused controversy by defending the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, arguing that

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

was a form of totalitarianism akin to

communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...

and

Nazism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...

and referring to former Czechoslovak president

Václav Havel Václav Havel (; 5 October 193618 December 2011) was a Czech statesman, author, poet, playwright, and dissident. Havel served as the last List of presidents of Czechoslovakia, president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 until 1992, prior to the dissol ...

as a "pawn of superpowers". Following the subsequent outcry from Czech and Slovak cultural circles, minister Šimkovičová removed Murín from office.

Novels

* 1989 ''Případ pohřbeného hřbitova'' * 1990 ''Leto praje milencom'' * 1990 ''Návraty zo svetla'' * 1998 ''Ako sa máš'' * 1998 ''Zvieratá, ja a iné'' * 2005 ''Svet je malý'' / ''Le monde est petit'' * 2010 ''Návrat do budúcnosti'' * 2015 ''Volajú ma Žaluď – …a ešte ma nedostali''

References

1959 births Living people Slovak journalists Slovak writers Writers from Bratislava Comenius University alumni Academic staff of Comenius University {{Slovakia-writer-stub