Antal Stašek (22 July 1843 – 9 October 1931), was a Czech writer and lawyer. He was born in the village of Stanový in the Liberec

Liberec

Liberec is a city in the Czech Republic. Located on the Lusatian Neisse and surrounded by the Jizera Mountains and Ještěd-Kozákov Ridge, it is the fifth-largest city in the Czech Republic....

 district of northern Bohemia

Bohemia

Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...

. From 1877, Stašek was a successful barrister in Semily

Semily

Semily is a town in the Semily District, Liberec Region, of northern Bohemia in the Czech Republic. It has about 9,000 inhabitants. One important landmark is the St Peter and Paul Church, from the beginning of the previous century. The town has two notable museums: the Museum and Regional Gallery...

. His work is mainly set in the area around the Krkonoše mountains that straddle the today's border between the Czech Republic

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

 and Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

. Stašek was heavily influenced by socialism

Socialism

Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...

 and social justice

Social justice

Social justice generally refers to the idea of creating a society or institution that is based on the principles of equality and solidarity, that understands and values human rights, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being. The term and modern concept of "social justice" was coined by...

 and was perhaps the first Czech writer to work with these themes.

His best known novel is Matusch the Shoemaker and his Friends, published posthumously in 1932. Stašek worked briefly in Mohelnice

Mohelnice

Mohelnice is a name of several locations in the Czech Republic:* town Mohelnice in the Olomouc Region * village Mohelnice * Mohelnice, part of village Křešín, in the Vysočina Region...

 before moving in 1913 to Prague

Prague

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

, where he spent the rest of his life. The writer Ivan Olbracht

Ivan Olbracht

Ivan Olbracht was a Czech writer, journalist and translator of German prose.The son of writer Antal Stašek, Olbracht studied law and philosophy in Prague and Berlin...

was his son.