In her memoir Když máma spala (While Mum Was Sleeping) the writer Beatrice Landovská brings to life the years 1976 to 1979, revisiting her family and Czech society in the period when the regime’s crackdown on Charter 77 began. She describes the events through the eyes of a girl who has just left the relative safety of primary school and is unable to get a grasp on what is happening around her. Both parents disappear from the horizon at one point, leaving only the curse of her father’s fame and his general reprobation to contend with. The author’s appearance by Beatrice Landovská will be moderated by Jáchym Topol.

Ceremonial presentation of the book Václav Havel: Péče o stát (Václav Havel: Care for the State), which compiles speeches from his first years as president of the independent Czech Republic. The collection shows how Václav Havel was “building” a modern democratic state, on what he based his presidency and how he attempted to connect the threads of individual areas of society so that the country could prosper. Thus, between the lines, the author presents the fundamental problems of Czech politics in the 1990s in a dramatic arc – from the disillusionment of the collapse of Czechoslovakia to the disillusionment of the political crisis that preceded his Rudolfinum speech.

The country, which is key both for the Czech Republic and for the whole of Europe, is facing early elections at the end of February. What will the result tell us about Germany’s future? What will the elections mean for us, and ultimately for the rest of the European Union? And will they break the Germans’ post-war taboo over governing with the far-right? Deník N editor Filip Zajíček and his guests will discuss these questions and more.

The political religion of the past two centuries has been the belief in unlimited economic growth, based on ever faster technological development, which was to bring about the “emancipation of man from all the constraints and obligations” imposed by his spatio-temporal location on planet Earth. In the Anthropocene Epoch, democratic constitutions need to be based on a declaration of dependence on our earthly home, on a new social contract that will enshrine humanity’s obligation to respect planetary limits in its activities as a new global categorical imperative. In the post-factual environment of digital shallows, why is it not possible to form – through democratic means – a majority of opinion capable of politically representing our dependence on the Earth and subordinating economic growth to the planetary limits of human activity? Why are we so powerless in the face of the tyranny of the growth economy?

Knižní lázně (Book Spa) is a gathering of small publishers and booksellers and readers. This year for the first time also in Brno. At the Kumst creative hub, right under Špilberk, stands will include one offering new and proven titles from the Václav Havel Library.

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

Karel Kryl’s work reacted intensively to developments in the social situation and was publicly engaged. For more than two decades, it was also closely linked to the singer’s work at Radio Free Europe. The artist sharply criticised the occupation in August 1968 and the pragmatism of normalisation society, and later – from similar positions – also opposed Czechoslovakia’s transformation after 1989. He consistently called for the establishment of a responsible civil society. The book Ahoj občani! (Hi, Citizens!) is a companion publication to an exhibition of the same name organised by the National Archives and the Museum of Prague at the House at the Golden Ring. It is the most extensive Kryl exhibition to date, including a number of documents from his personal archive that were previously inaccessible to visitors or readers.

We cordially invite you to the 26th Big Book Thursday, where we will present the most notable spring offers from Czech publishers. Many of the selected titles lie beyond the contemporary mainstream, but still ought not to be missed by book lovers. Authors Jakub Szántó, Pavla Horáková, Dalibor Vácha and Lenka Vrtišková-Nejezchlebová are set to participate, while international titles will be presented via video greetings from writers, the books’ editors and other guests.

A festival of small publishers held for the third time at Kampusu Hybernská – and once again featuring a Václav Havel Library stand where we look forward to meeting you.

A debate on Czech book culture and its clashes with political and social power in recent decades.

Authors nominated in several categories of this year’s Magnesia Litera book awards will read from their works. Pavel Mandys will serve as host.

Dramaturges and directors will discuss Václav Havel’s plays, their experiences of staging them, what interventions they can bear and which they can no longer bear, whether their themes are still topical and how they can attract today's audience. This gathering is intended for theatre school students and the general theatre-going public and is intended as a reminder of the upcoming 90th anniversary of Václav Havel’s birth. Organised by the Václav Havel Library in cooperation with Jakub Škorpil and Vladimír Mikulka, editors with the magazine Svět a divadlo.

Oldřich Černý was among Václav Havel’s closest collaborators in the early years of his presidency. However, since the Czech Studies graduate and translator turned his focus to the security agenda, he is virtually unknown to the general public. When the Czech Republic became independent, he founded the Office for Foreign Relations and Information at the recommendation of the president and established important contacts with services in other countries. How was Czech intelligence service born, and how is he remembered by some of the actors of the changes at that time? Guests will include Jan Paďourek, Michael Žantovský and Petr Kaňák, while friends and collaborators from abroad will send recorded messages. Journalist Ondřej Kundra will moderate.

Max van der Stoel, who was the Dutch foreign minister at that time, met on March 1st 1977 with Jan Patočka, philosopher and spokesperson for Charter 77. This historic encounter was a turning point for the anti-Communist movement. As the first Western minister to engage with organized dissent in Czechoslovakia, Van der Stoel’s bold move gave Charter 77, previously unknown in the West, publicity and international recognition.

The Ukrainian Institute in Prague presents the Week of Ukrainian History, which will kick off on 31 March at the Václav Havel Library. The guest speaker will be historian Olexandr Zinchenko, writer of the screenplay for the film Collapse and author of How Ukrainians Destroyed the Evil Empire, published in Ukraine in 2023, which he will present at the event. The evening will be hosted by Rostislav Prokopjuk. Interpretation into Czech provided.