An evening with Liao Yiwu, a Chinese writer, musician, and dissident, signatory of Charter 08, who was imprisoned and tortured for his views. His writings, which reflect Chinese society, have been published with success around the world but are banned in his native country. The book of interviews, God Is Red, captures the stories of Christians under dictatorship and is a testimony to cruel persecution, solidarity, faith, and courage. We are also presenting the Czech editions of the author's LPs and CDs, Bloodshed and Composition for Bamboo Flute for Liu Xiaobo. Vladimír Lábus Drápal and Ivo Hucl will conduct a talk with Liao Yiwu, interpreted by Olga Lomová, while Jáchym Topol will moderate.  

“We signed various petitions, but Charter 77 was a huge turning point. The Communists were terrified of it at the time,“ said Květoslava Princová, one of the document’s signatories. She and her husband, Jan, decided to move from Prague to the countryside in 1976. From the outset, they knew that they did not want to live alone, but that their house in Rychnov near Děčín would become a refuge open to all those in need. The ruling Communist regime made unprecedented efforts to thwart them. However, despite nonstop harassment from officials and the police, for 10 years the Princ family managed to maintain several underground country houses in northern Bohemia as oases of free life in an unfree country. How did the family with small children manage at that time, and to what extent are the solutions adopted by the dissidents of that era still relevant today? Michal Šmíd will discuss all of this with Květoslava Princová.  

Authors’ readings by nominees in some of the seven categories of the annual Magnesia Litera book awards. Three or four authors across categories will read and discuss their work. Hosted by Pavel Mandys of the organizing Litera civic association.

The Václav Havel Library and the Faculty of Architecture of the Czech Technical University in Prague have decided to commemorate the unique period of architectural changes and the return of culture to Prague Castle during the presidency of Václav Havel. We have invited personalities who were involved in these changes to varying degrees and who can comment on them from a professional perspective to participate in a series of discussions. The guests on this occasion will be art historian, educator, and curator Ivona Raimanová, sculptor and visual artist Magdalena Jetelová, and theatre dramaturge and screenwriter Petr Oslzlý. The discussion will be moderated by Lenka Lindaurová. 

Journalist, writer, screenwriter, and long-time Radio 1 DJ Ondřej Štindl knows very well how it feels to have a song playing in your head almost your entire life. During the evening – with the help of bits of music, lyrics, and films – he will attempt to show how the experience of being a lifelong listener has influenced his writing, and perhaps even his view of the world.   

Discussion featuring editors from the weekly Respekt and their guests. For more details, visit www.vaclavhavel.cz prior to the event. 

Authors’ readings by nominees in some of the seven categories of the annual Magnesia Litera book awards. Three or four authors across categories will read and discuss their work. Hosted by Pavel Mandys of organisers the Litera civic association.

At Hebrew University in 1990, Havel made the bold claim that, “I sometimes feel I'm the only one who really understands Kafka.” Where do these two minds meet and where do they diverge? Professor Leah Tomkins, author of the ground-breaking book, Franz Kafka and the Truths of Leadership (2024) will join literary scholar doc. Mgr. Zuzana Říhová on stage for a discussion about absurdity, the economics of attention, and the role of power in leadership. 

“The world we live in, each of our lives, and everything we care about most in this life – happiness, health, love, children, friendship – none of this is in our hands, none of this can be bought, earned or achieved. Everything is a gift.” Jan Sokol often reminded us of this. And gratitude for this gift, accompanied by trust and hope, was the cornerstone of his rich and full life. Philosopher, teacher, translator, mathematician and programmer, goldsmith and academic, dissident and politician, minister and presidential candidate – Jan Sokol was all of these things, one of the most prominent figures in Czechia’s post-1989 life. On 18 April 2026, he would have turned 90. Come and remember the life and ideas of Jan Sokol together with his loved ones, friends, and colleagues. Vojtěch Sedláček, Tomáš Halík, Marie Pětová and Václav Sokol, Jan Sokol's brother, will participate in the discussion. 

Štěpán Sedláček will serve as host.  

Today’s Generation Z are incomprehensible to many people. They are often referred to as snowflakes: overly fragile and quick to fall apart. Is this actually true? If so, what is behind it? Why are instances of suicide and self-harm rising so sharply? And how can we understand and help young people? If you are interested in this topic and want to learn more about current data and possible solutions, come to the latest debate in the Aktuálně from the Library series. Veronika Rodriguez and Aleš Vojíř will be joined by Ladislav Dušek, director of the Institute of Health Information and Statistics, and experts in psychiatry. 

How can we make sense of today’s America and Donald Trump? Who is pulling the strings inside the White House? And what are the opposition Democrats offering? Come to a live recording of the podcast Amerika, bejby (America, Baby) with Barbora Chaloupková, Jiří Sobota, and Filip Zajíček.

Forty years ago this year, one of the greatest technological disasters in human history occurred. The Chernobyl accident impacted the lives of millions, changed attitudes towards nuclear energy, and left traces that are still visible to this day. How did it affect the world, and in particular life in Czechoslovakia? Guests: Petr Blažek, Peter Jašek, and Radkyn Mokryk. Historian Michal Macháček will moderate the discussion.  

Nothing but water: Myths and reality, homeopathy and placebos 

“Water is probably the most studied system due to the fact that it is essential for life on Earth as a universal biological solvent. In this lecture, I will try to show that its behaviour can still fill us with wonder – and by that I mean the actual properties of water rather than myths, such as the reliably disproved theory of long-term memory of water, which is used as a justification by sellers of homeopathic remedies.”  

Professor Pavel Jungwirth is a Czech physical chemist and university lecturer. He has worked for many years in university teams in the United States, Israel, and Switzerland, and currently heads the molecular modelling research group at the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences. As a populariser of science, he contributes columns to the weekly magazine Respekt. 

Compass is a series of debates that does not view Václav Havel as an untouchable symbol, instead offering his experience as inspiration for today’s world.  

Why is Václav Havel’s thinking still so inspiring? What questions can Václav Havel ask us today? What challenges does he place in front of us? What solutions does he offer? Compass is a series of debates that does not seek to idolize Václav Havel, but rather to explore his living legacy.  

Respect is one of the fundamental themes and values of Václav Havel’s work, even though the author often does not formulate this directly. He understands respect as a necessary prerequisite for a functioning democracy and as a deeply personal moral stance. By this, he means both one person’s respect for another and respect for otherness, for moral values, for nature and for the order of the world. In Havel’s conception, it is not merely a matter of tolerance, but of a responsible relationship to the transcendent, which transcends man and gives meaning to human action.    

Philosopher Daniel Kroupa has invited philosopher Alice Koubová to take part in the April edition of the series.  

Ceremonial presentation of a biography of Josef Guttmann 

The life journey of the Czech journalist and politician Josef Guttmann (1902–1956) was largely determined by his political views and origins. As a prominent and influential left-wing intellectual, he found himself in the sights of the First Republic police for a number of years. In 1933, when he showed the courage to speak out critically against Moscow's policy regarding the current danger of fascism in Germany - and thus inexcusably violated party discipline - he earned the hatred of Communist comrades. After the outbreak of World War II, he managed to escape from Czechoslovakia before being sent to a concentration camp and, after two years of wandering, applied for asylum in the USA. As before in Czechoslovakia, he continued to protect his identity there, once again publishing his reflections and analyses on international politics, Europe, and the USSR under pseudonyms. He merely replaced Jan Buchar and Václav Kovář with Václav Bušek, Peter Mayer, and Joseph Gordon. And was buried in New York under the name Joseph Gordon... 

This evening with the author of the book, Jan Žůrek, and the historian Pavel Siostrzonek will be moderated by Michael Rozsypal. 

“You can't serve everyone at once and deceive everyone at the same time! You can't just take from all sides and give nothing to anyone! A person simply has to belong somewhere!” An institution where every word can be a trap and every decision a fatal mistake. An institution where recognising reality becomes virtually impossible. And outside the institution, four chairs, lights, a piano, three pairs of eyes, and students. Students reveal the mechanisms of manipulation, the absurdity of a totalitarian system, and the fragility of human character. Are we going backwards? Are we in 1985 or 2025? 

Director: David Šrejma 

Cast: Maxmilián Materna, Sebastian Hájek, Alžběta Kronková, Mojmír Pěnička, Mia Homečková, Natálie Kalista, Rozálie Košařová, Vojtěch Šimek.