Jan Zikmund studied English and American studies at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University. He currently works as a publishing editor and translator in the international department of Karolinum Press. In 2026, he founded the Zikmund Literary Agency which negotiates publishing opportunities for Czech and Slovak authors abroad. It represents some of the leading poets and prose writers based in Central Europe.

His anthology of contemporary American poetry Dinosauři v ulicích (Dinosaurs in the Streets) appeared in 2025. It presents the work of fourteen contemporary American poets. He is also an editor of the English-language literary magazine B O D Y, and in March 2022 he became a regular poetry reviewer for the Host magazine. In 2021-23, he served as a member of the jury of the Magnesia Litera Award for Poetry.

Between 2018 and 2025, he worked at the Czech Literary Centre, where he was responsible for promoting Czech literature in English-speaking countries. As part of this job, he initiated, for instance, the 2020 Czech issue of the Modern Poetry in Translation magazine and organised the presentation of Czech comics at the 2021 Lakes International Comic Art Festival.