Real name: Fraňo Kráľ

Born 9. March 1903, Barton, Vermont, (US) - died 3. January 1955, Bratislava (Czechoslovakia)
Slovak interwar poet, prose writer of socialist realism and politics. He was born in the family of a Slovak emigrant in the USA, but as a two-year-old he returned to Slovakia with his mother.
After the war he worked at the Education Commission, was a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, a member of the Slovak National Council and a member of the chair of the Union of Czechoslovak Writers. In 1953 he was appointed a national artist.
In his novels he captured the social and political situation of Slovakia between world wars; he combined documentary with lyrical means of expression. Besides writing for adults, he also wrote prose books for children and young people ("Čenkovej deti", "Jano").