Interviews From a Time of Tumult
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: December 2, 2019, 20:00 – 22:00
How has the arena of freedom in our country changed over the last 30 years? In what state is freedom both social and personal?
Rozhovory přes rozbouřené doby (Interviews From a Time of Tumult), a book of interviews with eminent figures in public life, offers reflections on the “arena of freedom” in contemporary Czech society. Each of the interviewees has a close relationship to our state’s process of democratisation and a number were personally involved.
They include dissident and politician Luboš Dobrovský, former student activist and co-founder of humanitarian organisation People in Need Šimon Pánek, dissident and politician Petr Pithart, constitutional lawyer Jan Kysela, historian Igor Lukeš, journalist and writer Aleš Palán, political commentator Jiří Pehe, writerMark Slouka, historian Timothy Snyder, documentarian Olga Sommerová, scientist and Roman Catholic priest Marek Orko Vácha and translator and journalist Michael Žantovský.
The interviews, with a foreword by publisher Aleš Lederer, were conducted in connection with the 30th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution and the foundation of the PROSTOR publishing house, which was the direct successor of the samizdat series Prostor and a review of the same name, which began in 1982.
The interviews were conducted by journalists Eva Bobůrková, Jiří Leschtina, Petr Placák and Petr Vizina while the book also boasts a wealth of photographs.
Denisa Novotná will chair the evening.