Twenty-one short stories that describe in a sophisticated manner Kaprálová’s auto-fictional world but first and foremost human lives packed with inconspicuous turning points and unexpected encounters that chill but are, thanks to their authenticity and subtle humour, also touching.

There’s love in politics and politics in love, especially given the setting of the here and now, in a Central Europe shifting ever eastward.

Ivana Myšková will introduce the book and Dora Kaprálová will read excerpts

Musical accompaniment provided by Jakub Šimanský and Tomáš Niesner.

Organised by the Václav Havel Library in cooperation with the Druhé město publishing house.

Writer Denisa Šedivá has worked in the non-profit sector and in the state administration, mainly on projects in the fields of culture and ethnic minorities. For the last seven years she has lived in Brussels with her husband Jiří Šedivý, the Czech ambassador to NATO. Her first book My a jóga aneb klidná cesta k mateřství (Yoga and Us, or A Serene Path to Motherhood) (2013) was also judged most beautiful Czech book of the year in the textbook category.

Adam Macháček and Sébastien Bohner are graphic designers and work alongside Petr Bosák and Robert Jansa in the studio 20YY Designers. They are chiefly focused on designing publications, exhibitions, visual identities and illustrations.

Come and discuss those questions with Marek Orko Vácha. This gathering held in cooperation with ICF CR, the Czech branch of the International Coach Federation, is intended to introduce a person regarded as a representative of ethical behaviour and actions who is also capable of sharing his knowledge and experience in the field of ethics. How does contemporary society view ethics, virtuousness and morality? How can a professional coach help spread ethical, virtuous and moral values and outlooks? These issues will be raised, allowing visitors to also put forward questions.

Marek Vácha is a Roman Catholic priest, theologian, natural scientist, teacher and writer. In the academic sphere he heads the Institute for Ethics and Humanities of the Third Faculty of Medicine at Charles University, where he is also chair of the academic senate. He gained the nickname Orko, short for Orlí oko (eagle eye), in the scouts and employs it in his name.

The ICF, or International Coach Federation, is the biggest professional coaches’ organisation, bringing together almost 3,000 from all around the world.

Our guests will discuss how to improve media education in the Czech Republic, how teachers are trained at present and how they should be in future, as well as what role formal and informal projects play in this and how hard the Czech government is working to push through changes in education.

Guests: Adam Balling, a student at Charles University’s Faculty of Pedagogy who is already teaching, Michal Kaderka, a teacher and designer of media education materials, journalist Jindřich Šídlo and others.

Organised by the Václav Havel Library in cooperation with Faketicky.

After the official welcome by Prof. Peter Knight (University of Manchester), the Action Chair, and Prof. Katerina Kralova (Charles University, Prague), Prof. Mark Fenster (University of Florida), author of Conspiracy Theories: Secrecy and Power in American Culture (2nd ed. 2008) and one of the most prominent scholars in the field, will deliver a keynote address entitled “Feed: Conspiracy and Transparency Amidst Information Abundance.”

The talk will be chaired by Prof. Michael Butter (University of Tübingen), the Action Vice-Chair. The lecture will be followed by the official launch of the book series “Conspiracy Theories” which is published by Routledge and edited by Michael Butter and Peter Knight, and in which the publications of network members and other scholars working in the field will be published in the next years. This series will be introduced by Prof. Peter Knight.

Organised by the Václav Havel Library in cooperation with Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University. The event will be conducted in English without translation.

The novel is set in contemporary Tel Aviv but the themes it addresses are common to humanity and familiar to readers across all continents. It tells the stories of three inhabitants of a building in a quiet suburb. Nevo explores what happens when an “orderly” person living an utterly normal life encounters extraordinary situations. How deeply does it shake his world and the established order that governs it? Are characters’ decisions and their consequences irreversible, or is there always a route back? And do the protagonists even want to make that journey?

The novel Three Floors Up was a bestseller in Israel and ranks among Nevo’s best.

It has been translated into more than 10 languages and should receive a film adaptation this year.

Hebrew Studies expert and translator Lenka Bukovská will moderate. Interpretation into Czech provided.

Organised by the Václav Havel Library in cooperation the Garamond publishing house. 

Both journalism and democracy are in the process of transition – and many would say in a crisis. Faced with the increasing dominance of digital platforms, majority of professional news media are fighting for economic survival as well as for regaining audience’s trust, while many countries are witnessing the rise of populism and growing polarization, threatening the very foundations of democracy. How do journalists and media organizations respond to these challenges, and what can they do to bridge the widening societal gaps that are often exploited by populists? How can they counter the influx of disinformation and “fake news” while still protecting free speech? What is the place and future of traditional journalistic norms such as objectivity, impartiality and balance in the allegedly post-truth age, and in an increasingly polarized media landscape?

Panellists: 
Mark Thompson, CEO of The New York Times and former Director-General of BBC
Emma Smetana, journalist, moderator of DVTV
Jiří Hošek, journalist, commentator TV Seznam
Michael Žantovský, diplomat, Director of Václav Havel Library

Moderator: Václav Štětka, media scholar, Loughborough University

The text Prase aneb Václav Havel´s Hunt for a Pig (The Pig, or Václav Havel’s Hunt For A Pig) was written overnight for the amusement of the author and his guests, who had come to Hrádeček in summer 1987 to celebrate Olga Havlová’s 54th birthday. The gathering was to include a real country pig-killing and Václav Havel has tasked with sourcing a live pig.

Was it worth it? Did the breakup of Austria-Hungary and the creation of Czechoslovakia make sense? Was independent Czechoslovakia, as Edvard Beneš claimed, a “lover of the deal”, or, as Adolf Hitler mockingly declared a few years later, the “appendix” of the Versailles Agreement? Can the roots of the problems that later came to a head in Munich be traced to 1918? Isn’t the First Republic, like a lot of music stars, chiefly famous for dying young and tragically? How did the views of Europe and the world of Czechoslovakia change during its history? Are we the descendants of Jan Hus, or of the Hussites? Given Czech history, can the state and its citizens be constructively well-rounded and confident?

These and other questions were posed by the moderator of the TV series Historie.cs, Vladimír Kučera, and Karel Kučera to personalities with various backgrounds and outlooks. Guests: Petr Blažek, Jana Čechurová, Evžen Gál, Anna Hogenová, Lada Hubatová-Vacková, Petra Ježková, Daniel Kroupa, Karel Kučera, Vladimír Kučera, Jindřich Marek, Miroslav Michela, Karel Oliva, Petr Pithart, Maciej Ruczaj, Jan Rychlík, Michal Semín, Karel Schwarzenberg, Matěj Spurný, Martin Škorpík, Jana Švejdová, Kateřina Tučková and Stefan Zwicker.

Discussion evening on a theme that resonates in the book of interviews Stálo to za to? (Was It Worth It?) dedicated to the outstanding journalist Vladimír Kučera, who died recently.

Helmed by Karel Kučera.

The evening will be compered by Adam Šůra.

Organised by the Václav Havel Library in cooperation with the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren.

He will speak about the political situation in Sudan, as well as Sudanese history and culture.

Petr Sobalík will chair the debate.