UrSula Kovalyk is a poet, fiction writer, playwright and social worker. She was born in 1969 in KoSice, eastern Slovakia and currently lives in the capital, Bratislava. She has published the short story collections, Neverné zeny neznáSajú vajícka (Unfaithful Women Lay No Eggs, 2002) and Travesty Sou(Travesty Show, 2004), and two novels, Zena zo sekáca (The Second-hand Woman, 2008) and Krasojazdkyna (The Equestrienne, originally published in Slovak in 2013 and in English by Parthian in 2016) was shortlisted for Slovakia's most prestigious literary prize, the Anasoft Litera Award, and received the Bibliotéka Prize for 2013. Her most recent collection of short stories, Cisté zviera (A Pure Animal), appeared in 2018.