Spotlight On Writers
Hana Rubinstejnova
- Where do you originate from?
My origin is in the heart of Europe. I was born in Moravia in the time when Czechoslovakia was still one country under the communist regime. When I was three years young my family decided to move from my grandparents’ house to Prague, the capital of now Czechia, for better work opportunities. A vivid memory of our first abode in the city was a one-bedroom apartment where we shared a corridor toilet with the next apartment and there was no shower. The swimming pool in the next suburb was our go to for hot showers.
We then moved again when I was around 9 to a newly built block of flats in an outer part of Prague. That time we scored a private bathroom as well as a couple of bedrooms. Life got pretty good. My parents, both university educated, found stable work in the same suburb and I went to a new school.
It was common in that regime to keep one’s house and job for an entire life. However, then came the Velvet Revolution in 1989, and with it, a democracy and life as we knew it got turned inside out. New life meant new freedoms, yet also new challenges.
- What do you cherish most about the place you call home?
I’m very fortunate that my parents were supportive of my learning English and traveling abroad on my own. The defining moment came in my twenties. A casual invitation to a wedding from an Australian friend with whom I shared a room in a YWCA in the UK some years prior. As I prepared to travel to the wedding in the land down under, my mum had a gut feeling that I would not return. Her intuition was correct. I fell in love with, and in, Australia. It sure is a land of opportunity and a relaxed beach culture.
What I cherish most about my home is it being an oasis of calm and quiet. The comfortable space I have, where I can write and create.
- What ignites your creativity?
My creativity is ignited by chaos. The outer chaos of the world around me, and the internal chaos that is at times there on a variety of subjects. Besides the observational poetry, that I often find myself enjoying, I am often urged to write more than the eye can see. When I feel an unsettling feeling inside my belly, I sit and write it out until it crystallizes into clarity.
Back in 2009, during a 10-day silent meditation retreat, my mind was blown into shards by a spiritual awakening. I slowly rebuilt the new mind over the next decade. Since then, I make sure that I feed my mind good vibes and also stay away from the mainstream media. That said, there is still plenty of chaos in and out to keep me busy writing.
- Do you have a favorite word, and could you incorporate it into a poetic phrase?
The word LIFE comes to mind. I think it can be found in a lot of my poetry. It is somehow an enigmatic word for me as I am fascinated by life.
Life makes us that, what we are
Life is the essence of us all
Life, we cannot fake it
Life is what we make it
- What is your pet peeve?
That is a question I have to really think about. There sure are some occasional things and behaviours that irritate me. However, people who know me well, mention that I come across as accepting, and I would like to believe that.
- How would you describe the essence of Hana Rubinstejnova?
The essence of Hana Rubinstejnova is my poetry on the subject of spiritual awakening, intertwined with a good dose of observation of the world around.
Some years ago, I used to write psychologically based informative articles, and among other works also co-authored and published a profound manual for meaningful life called “Design Your Future and Create Your Dream Life,” 2017.
In the last five years, poetry has been my medium of choice. I have several poetry books published and they encompass diversified subjects from the years when they were written.
There is a substantial part of my poetry that is not based on the observable true reality, yet it is some unforeseen part of my psyche that gets drawn out of the unconscious mind. I am eternally grateful for the art of poetry and its expressive form. It gives me the wings to fly into new dimensions.
- Spotlight On Writers – Hana Rubinstejnova - May 2, 2026
- Mirrored - April 26, 2026
- QUIZ - January 3, 2026
