The book Byli jsme tu vždycky (We’ve Always Been Here) delivers 13 exceptionally intimate and open interviews on queerness today. Queer people are the target of culture wars and political fights throughout the world. The Deník N editor and creator of the Studio N podcast, Filip Titlbach, has provided them with a platform to speak about their lives and the difficulties they face.

Reading by writers nominated in this year’s edition of the Magnesia Litera book awards: Klára Goldstein: Falkenfrau (Moleskine Litera for poetry), Marka Míková: Kabát a kabelka (Coat and Bag) (Litera for children’s/YA book), Alexandr Mitrofanov: Mrazík s pendrekem v ruce (Jack Frost with a Truncheon in his Hand) (Aktuálně.cz Litera for journalism) and Zuzana Říhová: Cestou špendlíků nebo jehel (Through Pins or Needles) (Palmknihy Litera for prose). Organised by the Litera association and hosted by Pavel Mandys.

Pavel Šmíd (1952–2021) was a photographer, writer and publisher. His short story collection Ať žije Daur! (Long Live Daur) was published in 2020 but, due to Covid and Pavel’s illness, is only being presented now. We are also remembering Pavel Šmíd the photographer and publisher. As a photographer he accompanied Václav Havel around Latin America, a presidential visit that is remembered by participants. Taking part in the evening will be Pavel’s friends and colleagues, including Jan Adamec, Kateřina Kmentová, Bohdan Holomíček and Jan Macher.

Discussion with editors from the weekly Respekt and their guests on a topical issue, in cooperation with the Václav Havel Library. For more information and the names of guests visit www.vaclavhavel.cz prior to the event.

Havel the playwright was famous as an ironist. Havel the president was regarded by many as a moraliser. But this is not a contradiction: both the ironist and the moraliser highlight that which is absent but still important. In this way they point to another motif of Havel’s work: in the light of virtue, we are unseemly, even embarrassing. But this is the very place where the grin of both the ironist and the sermoniser is born. To the extent that we are aware we should be different, the impression of embarrassment is an element of irony and moralising. But above all it is perhaps an element of mankind itself.

Presentation of the new Plastic People of the Universe record, Pražský hrad Live (Prague Castle Live), capturing the concert when, after a break of 16 years, the band reformed at the request of Václav Havel to perform at a celebration of the 20 th anniversary of Charter 77 at Prague Castle’s Spanish Hall on 10 January 1997. Looking back at that event will be members of the band and senator Jiří Oberfalzer, who was head of the press department at the Office of the President and organised the event. Also being launched will be the LP Pašijové hry velikonoční (Easter Passion Play), which was recorded at Hrádeček in 1978.

Debate series with editors from the weekly Echo 24 and their guests in cooperation with the Václav Havel Library. Lenka Zlámalová will chair the discussion. For the topic and names of guests visit www.vaclavhavel.cz prior to the event.

These days the Russian language can spark great emotion on Czech streets. However, between the world wars the country became home to many Russians, hounded out of their homeland by the Bolshevik revolution. One of them was Sergej Vojcechovský. A Russian aristocrat by birth, he was a fearless and brave soldier, a member of the Czechoslovak legions in Russia who identified with the ideas of the Czechoslovak state. After his arrival in the new republic he continued in his military career. In September 1938 he was one of the Czechoslovak Army commanders ready to stand up to Hitler. During WWII he became involved in the resistance. Shortly after the war he was arrested by the Soviets and hauled off to the USSR, where he was convicted. Is his story typical of a figure such as he was? And what does it tell us about his age?

A direct presidential election is again drawing closer and “debunking the spell” of Prague Castle and the Czech presidency requires serious discussion. The fact they are automatically sanctified fundamentally impacts the quality of our democracy. How did it come to pass that the Castle is perceived not only as the seat of head of state but also a “sacred district”? Why does this sacralisation, i.e., pseudo-religious emphasis on the special status of the Castle in national and political life, continue when the Czech state is a republic? Doesn’t this represent a danger to Czech democracy?

Students at the Department of Non-Verbal Theatre at the Faculty of Music and Dance at the Academy of Performing Arts have put together a stage study on a theme inspired by Václav Havel’s prison texts.

The dictator Enver Hoxa decided to make Albania the only genuine socialist state. He isolated it from the rest of the world, unleashed terror and forced atheism on a strongly religious country. He led it for 40 years. Reporter Margo Rejmer writes in the book Mud Sweeter Than Honey about a state that was turned against its own inhabitants. Nobody could be sure of their life. Informing was extremely common, as were draconic punishments. Now people are learning to trust again. To be part of an open Europe. But is 20 years enough for that?

The journalist and writer Aleš Palán has a gift for finding unique individuals who plough their own furrow beyond the bounds of everyday society. His book of interviews with Šumava lone wolves Raději zešílet v divočině (Better to Go Crazy in the Wilderness) (2018) came first in the Lidové noviny Book of the Year poll and became a bestseller, as did Jako v nebi, jenže jinak (Like in Heaven But Different) (2019), which was in a similar key and won a Magnesia Litera prize. In his new book Robinsoni a donkichoti (Robinsons and Don Quixotes) the author has put together the stories of seven idiosyncratic types who are closer to us than those in Šumava, crossing our paths on the street, on the bus, anywhere. They are not connected by solitude like the lone wolves who have withdrawn from civilisation to the forests, bogs and mountains. However, a certain resignation is apparent. “I didn’t have the strength to go with the flow, much less go against it,” says one. These people have created their own micro-worlds, fascinating universes where their own rules apply. They are near others yet also far away.