Alena Wagnerová is a writer, oral historian, translator and editor whose works focus on the lives and works of major personalities, such as Milena Jesenská, Sidonie Nádherná and Franz Kafka. She has produced a number of books looking at the coexistence of Czechs and Germans in the border areas, including their forced and voluntary departures, and was one of the first to explore the stories of German anti-fascists. On the Havel Channel Alena Wagnerová will introduce her slim volume of introspective prose Dvojitá kaple (The Double Chapel) (Maraton), “an intimate testimony about the childhood, adolescence and maturing of a young woman, while relationships between parents and children make up the axis of the narrative.” German Studies expert Šárka Krtková will conduct the interview with the author.

The first September event at which you will encounter a Václav Havel Library stand offering its own new books and proven titles is a traditional gathering of selected small publishers in Tábor, South Bohemia. As every year, Tabook also offers a rich accompanying programme, this time on the subject of Family Business.

After 20 years the Taliban are back in power in Afghanistan. Though such a conclusion could have been predicted after a deal last year between the US and representatives of this radical Islamic organisation under which American and allied forces were to leave the country, the speed with which this has become reality has surprised most observers and many direct participants, sparking several questions: Was it an armed victory of one side, or an arranged handover of power? Did background deals facilitate such rapid change? What impact will the capitulation of the Afghan government and the international alliance that supported it have on the credibility of the US and NATO, whose forces made up the core of that coalition? What guarantees did the US and the international coalition stipulate with regard to respect for human rights in the newly created Islamic emirate, and how do they aim to enforce adherence? What will be the geographical impact of the change of regime in Afghanistan when it comes to the standing of powers such as the US, China, Russia and other states?

Václav Havel’s Disturbing the Peace is our former president’s most personal, but at the same time most successful, book. It is an account of his relationship to people, art and politics butis also his biography. By giving this book-length interview to Karel Hvížďala, he relieved himself of the obligation to penhis memoirs one day. The book first came out in Czech in London in 1986. A modified edition, supplemented by unique photographs and a foreword by Petr Pithart, is coming out for the 85th anniversary of his birth.

How did the “laboratory of civic society” function?

Discussion of editors from the weekly Respekt and their guests on a topical issue. For more details and the names of guests, visit www.vaclavhavel.cz before the event.

The Three Seas Initiative, a platform for international cooperation bringing together states between the Baltic, the Adriatic and the Black seas, was created in 2015. Poland and Croatia were there at its inception but since then the initiative has been joined by many other countries from Estonia to Bulgaria, including the Czech Republic. Why is it necessary to boost cooperation on a North-South axis? Is the Three Seas Initiative a recipe for boosting the economies of the “poorer” wing of the European Union? Does it have some political ambitions? In what ways does it build on the work of the interwar concept of the Intermarium? Can it help us when it comes to dealing with the politics of Moscow? How does it fit in with existing international cooperation platforms (Visegrad Group, Central European Initiative)? How do the EU, US, Russia and view the project? What are the geopolitical risks of such a project? How do perceptions of the project differ between Warsaw and Prague?

Václav Havel wrote his own variation on the Faust legend in 1985. Just like the ancient story, Temptation also concerns a deal with the devil, while here too the protagonist unsuccessfully faces tempting, seductive offers. However, the wager for his soul takes place in the writer’s (and our) contemporary world. The play’s topical associations spoke to director Jiří Honzírek: “In the media sphere or on social media we are increasingly asking ourselves whether the perception of personal or collective loyalty doesn’t need to shift from a sense of inevitability and givenness to an awareness of possibilities that we alone are responsible for.”

The 11th summer Knihex will take place this time at Prague’s Kasárny Karlín. This edition of the festival of small publishers will also feature a stand of books produced by the Václav Havel Library.

A musician and social worker at a contact centre for drug users will be the guest in the latest Czech Street Work Association discussion evening. Why did he choose social work? What do his colleagues in the field of music make of it? Why are drugs and rock’n’roll so closely connected? We will discuss all of this, a little politics and perhaps immortality with Amrit Sen.

Eighty years ago, in September 1941, following the arrival of Reichsprotektor Reinhard Heydrich in Prague, the first martial law was declared in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. This so-called first Heydrichiad came in response to the expansion of the resistance movement, the need to ensure uninterrupted arms production and preparations for the Germanisation of Czech territory. Martial courts arbitrarily meted out the death sentence on participants in the domestic resistance, perpetrators of economic crimes and those who breached “public order”; such a verdict was also handed down to Alois Eliáš, prime minister in the first Protectorate government. Historians Jaroslav Čvančara and Eduard Stehlík and publisher and writer Jiří Padevět will discuss the period that preceded the decision to carry out the assassination of the Nazi governor, who had hundreds of death sentences and thousands of arrests to his name but also presented himself as a slick guarantor of social and other benefits to the Czech proletariat. 

The published diaries of the film director and screenwriter Pavel Juráček are coming out in complete form in four volumes from publishers Torst. The diaries cover the years 1948–1989 and are not just the unique testimony of an extraordinarily stimulating artist but also deliver an invaluable insight into Czech society and cultural life in the 40 years in question. The fourth volume of the diary is from the years 1974–1989, capturing a period when Juráček’s professional life was in pieces, when he didn’t even keep up his diary up systematically and when he lived in West Germany for several years, before in 1983 returning to his homeland to live out the final six years of his life. The volume’s editor and Marie Kratochvílová and Pavel Hájek, an expert on Juráček’s work, will discuss this turbulent, complicated and tragic period of his life.

The biggest Czech book fair, Book World Prague, returns to Prague’s Výstaviště after a year’s absence will also include a Václav Havel Library exhibition and sales space. We look forward to your visit!

The literary story of the Roma. Karolína Ryvolová’s detective-style search for blank spots in the history of Romani literature on the territory of the Czech Republic. Launch of a new book just published by the organisation Slovo 21 z. s. 

The Covid Dilemma: Rights against Responsibilities

(with a special event on the human rights crisis in Afghanistan)

God moves in mysterious ways. That is something that the unconventional female pastor Martina Viktorie Kopecká can attest to. For the great majority of her life she didn’t dream she would serve the church. But still today she is a distinctive figure in the Czechoslovak Hussite Church. What does the life of a modern pastor look like? You will find out from her notes, which unfold to the rhythm of a year in the church and deliver one-of-a-kind insights into the experiences of a woman reverend: from regular services to meeting Pope Francis.