Linda Szabóová completed her Master’s degree in Tibetan Studies at Charles University in Prague, where she developed an interest in Tibetan ritual practice and pre-Buddhist influences in Tibetan religion. Her thesis presented a translation and analysis of a Nyingma ritual text entitled Gto nag mgo gsum gyi cho ga from the Gto ’bum collection, concerning the Three-Headed Black Man — a wrathful demonic being who, according to the ritual’s myth, is subdued by Manjushri and functions as an effigy within the ritual’s framework.

While studying in Prague, she began working at the Oriental Institute Library of the Czech Academy of Sciences, initially on the bequest of Professor Kolmaš, which introduced her to rare and archival materials, including manuscripts and woodblock prints. After graduation, she became a department supervisor, overseeing collections management — a role she held until beginning her PhD studies.

She is currently pursuing a joint PhD (cotutelle) at the École Pratique des Hautes Études – PSL in Paris and Charles University in Prague, as part of the PaganTibet project. Her research focuses on a collection of Bonpo ritual texts, through which she aims to reconstruct aspects of pre-Buddhist Tibetan religious practice.

Together with her peers from Charles University, she co-founded Orientalistický expres, an association of Czech orientalists promoting collaboration and outreach in the field. Before turning to Tibetan studies, Linda earned a degree in Translation and Interpreting in her native Slovakia, specializing in Hungarian and English language and culture.

Linda grew up near the Slovak–Hungarian border in a bilingual environment, which sparked her enduring interest in issues of cultural identity and social stratification. Over the years, she has studied an impressive number of languages — and consequently speaks none of them well enough to list here. She is currently locked in a lifelong battle with French but somehow became conversational in Spanish after watching a few movies. She enjoys concerts, camping at music festivals, and turning casual chats about cinematography into three-hour symposiums.