Andrej Babiš and his team are a mere step away from making a major comeback to the helm of the Czech government. How will the ANO leader’s new coalition with the SPD and Motorists function, and what does he have in store for the future of the Czech Republic? Join us for a live recording of the Deník N politics podcast Vrtěti psem, hosted by analyst Jan Tvrdoň and reporters Markéta Boubínová and Prokop Vodrážka.

The latest debate in the Circus Europe series focuses on the state of Czech democracy and political culture following the recent elections to the Chamber of Deputies. Is an “Andrej Babiš’s Czechia” emerging? Are the principles of liberal democracy on the line? Will public service media survive? How will Czech foreign policy change? Where is the Czech Republic headed in the context of the complex crisis in the West and in the face of global threats? The Circus Europe debate series is organised by Collegium Europaeum in cooperation with the Václav Havel Library and is focused on current issues facing the West, Europe and Czechia in the broader context. Guests: political scientist Anna Shavit, journalist Alexandr Mitrofanov and reporter Marek Wollner. The discussion will be moderated by historian and philosopher Petr Hlaváček, editor-in-chief of the media outlet FORUM 24.

Announcement of the results of the 18th annual Václav Havel Library student essay competition in the presence of students and the jury. This year's theme was: Snowflakes or rocks? Are we really so fragile a generation? Václav Havel's essays, such as The Power of the Powerless and A Word About Words, have become classics of Czech literature and are among the few truly world-famous works of Czech culture. This is one of the reasons why it is necessary to continue cultivating the essay genre in the Czech language – not in the sense of imitating Václav Havel's essays, but in terms of emulating his courage to identify unpleasant problems and seek unconventional solutions to them.

On 14 December 1995 the presidents of Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia signed the Dayton Peace Agreement in Paris. This ended the most terrible war in Europe since 1945, which claimed 100,000 lives in a country of three million. How could something like this happen in Europe after the fall of the Iron Curtain? Could Europe have reacted more quickly? Would peace have been achieved without the Americans? And how did Václav Havel try to end the fighting in the Balkans? The guests of Matyáš Zrnka, editor-in-chief of aktualne.cz and expert on the Balkans, will be: Michael Žantovský, former advisor to Václav Havel and Czech ambassador to the US, and Filip Tesař from the Department of Cultural and Social Anthropology at the Faculty of Arts, University of Pardubice, who was in Bosnia during the war.

Over 10,000 people are currently facing various forms of politically motivated persecution in Russia and the occupied territories of Ukraine. Among them are men and women of all ages – including minors – and representatives of various professions, from politicians and journalists to artists and housewives. Come and show them at Christmas time that the free world has not forgotten them, and write them something festive and heartfelt and wish them Happy New Year. Alexandra Skorvid will open the event by presenting prisoners’ stories and outlining the rules for writing letters to Russian prisons. The second part of the event will be devoted to writing itself – and all that you need will be available at the venue. The letters will be translated into Russian and sent directly to Russian prison colonies.

In the early 1980s a monument to John Lennon appeared on Prague’s Velkopřevorské Square, where fans would gather on the anniversary of his death on 8 December. Originally small, spontaneous assemblies grew into anti-regime demonstrations marked by police intervention. The annual gatherings, which were taken over by the Central Committee of the Socialist Union of Youth in 1988 on the instructions of the Ministry of the Interior, were even discussed by the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. This seminar will also focus on the post-1989 tradition at the Lennon Wall and changes at this place of remembrance, which has gradually taken on a distinctly commercial character. It has been repeatedly repainted for various reasons and used for a number of projects. It has also become a model for similar places in other cities and countries.

The grand opening of the international program FestivAL100, which is dedicated to the legacy of Arnošt Lustig, will kick off with a round table discussion with top literary scholars: Tomáš Kubíček, Michal Bauer and Ladislava Chateau. The discussion will focus on the contribution of Lustig’s work to Czech and world literature and cinema, his humanist message and the enduring relevance of his legacy.

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

“Why do the words of prophets sound like hallucinations to our ears? And on the night of our fear, in the thickets of the forest, do phosphorous eyes and stars sparkle alike? Too sick, we sense sickness in the ecstatic transfiguration of faces, in the radiant pallor of saints and in words too lavish with light. And through our illness, truth has become our death," writes Otokar Březina, timelessly. Can a top scientist also be a morally dubious individual, and do we really do science in a social vacuum, outside of all ideology, as we like to imagine?

The first edition of the book by farmer Jan Boštík (1903–1981) Mladočovské Jericho (Mladočov Jericho), which mapped the experience of collectivisation in his native village of Mladočov, attracted a lot of attention among both ordinary readers and in specialised circles. As a collaborator on the project Lammel invited Prague artist Jakub Grec, who accompanied each copy with original drawings created using an unconventional ink technique. Rolníkův spis (The Farmer’s Document), conceived as a complex work of art, has been published by Jiří Lammel in collaboration with the Regional Museum in Litomyšl.

The State of Israel is often portrayed as an island of democracy and an outpost of Western civilization in the turbulent Middle East. Following the terrorist attacks by Palestinian organisation Hamas and during the war in Gaza, Israel and the Middle East region have once again proved to be a flashpoint for a clash of civilizations, imperial aspirations and geopolitical shifts. The situation is changing rapidly and some problems are deepening. However, they cannot be understood without historical context, a global perspective and knowledge of events from the last decade and the present day. This is one of the reasons for the writing of Izrael: Židovský stát v rozpadajícím se světě, (Israel: The Jewish State in a Disintegrating World). The book is published by Fórum pro média, kulturu a civilizaci in collaboration with the FORUM 24 media outlet, providing the impetus for this debate. The discussion will feature radio commentator Jan Fingerland, diplomat and journalist Petr Janyška and historian and journalist Martin Kovář. It will be moderated by historian and philosopher Petr Hlaváček.

The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Václav Havel Library are pleased to invite you to the fifth Havel–Cleveringa Lecture, delivered this year by Dr. Joris Larik, Associate Professor of Comparative, EU, and International Law at Leiden University and Director of Education at Leiden University College The Hague. A specialist in EU external relations and global governance, Dr. Larik has served since 2022 on the Committee on European Integration of the Dutch Advisory Council on International Affairs.

Prague’s English-language newspapers and magazines are long gone, and the city now hosts fewer international correspondents than in the past. But with the advent of AI and more centralised newsrooms reshaping journalism, what does English media in the city look like today – and what lies ahead? These questions and more will be answered by Daisy Sindelar, former vice president and editor-in-chief of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and co-founder of the Weight of the World podcast; Jan Lopatka, Reuters chief correspondent for the Czech Republic and Slovakia; and Rob Cameron, the BBC’s Prague correspondent. In Conversation With… is a series of talks in English at the Václav Havel Library hosted by Ian Willoughby of Radio Prague International.

On the 14th anniversary of his passing, we will commemorate Václav Havel with humour and exaggeration via one of his most successful plays. What is happiness really? Bedřich Vaněk finds himself visiting his friends Michal and Věra. They ostentatiously demonstrate their "perfect" life, which gradually turns into empty posturing and pretence. Havel ironically reveals conformity, resignation and the loss of inner freedom during the years of Husákian "darkness". This one-act satire by Václav Havel from 1975 is part of his "Vaněk" series, in which the character of writer and dissident Vaněk is confronted with the absurd reality of normalized society.