Events: September 2017 August 2017 October 2017
Katalpa, Myšková: The Prose of Slums and Burrows
September 5, 2017, 19:00
The experienced prose author Jakuba Katalpa (real name Tereza Jandová), best-known for her previous novel Němci (The Germans) (2012), has just published the novel Doupě (The Burrow) on the Host imprint. The less experienced prose author Ivana Myšková, who won acclaim for her prose debut Nícení (2012), brought out a short story collection, Bílá zvířata jsou velmi často hluchá (White animals are very often deaf) through the same publishing house in May this year. More
Koubská, Stránský, Pithart: Grandfather’s Diary. An ordinary life in extraordinary times
September 7, 2017, 19:00
In the book Dědečkův deník (Grandfather’s Diary) journalist Libuše Koubská offers a documentary and literary exploration of the story of “her soul”, more precisely the story of a Czech-German family whose lives were marked dramatically and tragically by so-called great events of the 20th century: the First Republic, the Protectorate, the wild post-war expulsions and the early 1950s. More
On the Life and Death of Liu Xiaobo
September 8, 2017, 19:00
The latest edition of a series of evenings exploring contemporary China will focus on Liu Xiaobo, the recently deceased leading Chinese intellectual and Nobel Peace Prize recipient. It will feature readings from Liu’s work, including poems and essays, as well as of excerpts from noteworthy studies of his contribution to Chinese literature, philosophy, society and politics. More
Karol Sidon: Where Foxes Bid Goodnight
September 11, 2017, 19:00
The fantasy novel Outsider closes the tetralogy Where Foxes Bid Goodnight by Chaim Cigan. In the work Cigan (the pseudonym of the prose author, dramatist and former chief rabbi of Prague, Karel Sidon) attempts to pull together the stories of multiple heroes we have encountered in this and parallel worlds in the previous three books and to rectify that which was originally unleased by a discovery that enabled time travel. More
Reza Mirchi: Václav Havel in Modern Iranian Literature and Theatre
September 13, 2017, 17:00
Bohemist and translator Reza Mirchi will present films and documents mapping performances of Václav Havel’s plays in Tehran theatres and clubs, discuss the works by Havel that have been translated and published in Iran, and reflect on how contemporary Iranians view his philosophy and legacy. More
Sagar – My Ten Lives
September 13, 2017, 19:00
The story of the refugee Sagar, who as a child was forced to leave her native Kabul and spent several years on the move and in refugee camps before her family settled in Prague, where they have lived for 20 years. Her parents opened a restaurant serving traditional Afghan specialities; while Sagar and her siblings help them out, their main focus is on sharing their experience as refugees with those who have never been through that trauma. More
Lost in Translation
September 14, 2017, 19:00
“There are times when you are walking in the forest early in the morning and you repeat those short lines to yourself and suddenly something goes off in your mind and you see the world through the author’s eyes. You make a leap into another life, like when lightning lights up the landscape at night. It’s one of the most wonderful feelings I know.” Jaroslav Kořán More
Pre-Election Super Debate: Politics vs. Education
September 14, 2017, 16:00
In terms of the popularity of school with children, we come last in international comparisons alongside the drill-focused South Korea. The labour market is developing extremely rapidly and demand for many professions is on the wane. Average occupation of the post of Czech minister of education has to date been for 1.5 years and many believe there is a complete absence of a long-term development strategy. More
Leïla Slimani: Chanson Douce
September 18, 2017, 19:00
Meeting with the novelist and Prix Goncourt winner Leïla Slimani. Her novel Chanson Douce (Sweet Song) is a dark story about addiction, the desire for a good home and avoiding responsibility and murder, as well as being a wonderful study of contemporary French life. More
An Intergenerational Debate: Death in Prague
September 19, 2017, 19:00
Are we capable of accepting death as part of life? Why are we afraid to discuss death? Come and search for an answer with our guests. More
The Legacy of Genocide
September 20, 2017, 17:30
Evening dedicated to post-war efforts to come to terms with the consequences of the Roma Holocaust. Guests will include members of Roma and Sinti families from the Czech Republic and Germany and the debate will be chaired by Jana Horváthová, director of the Museum of Romani Culture. More
T. G. Masaryk and Josef Svatopluk Machar: Correspondence
September 21, 2017, 19:00
In September 2013 Petr Kotyk succeeded in securing a valuable acquisition for the Literary Archive of the Memorial of National Literature in the form of almost 500 letters written by Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk to Josef Svatopluk Machar between 1893 and 1932, along with a significantly smaller amount of correspondence from Machar’s family members (his wife Hedvika and daughters Sylva and Jiřina). The collection is primarily valuable as a supplement to 300 letters from J.S. Machar from the period 1893–1913 held in the T.G. Masaryk collection at the Literary Archive, so creating a whole that has no parallel in the Masaryk correspondence published to date. More
What is the Point of Books in the Midst of Wartime Chaos?
September 22, 2017, 19:00
For Ghias Mousli to reach Prague, he has to leave Homs by taxi, cross a war zone and hope that he doesn’t miss his flight from Beirut due to holdups at the border. He is one of the few citizens of the war-torn city who can travel to Europe freely – thanks to having Slovak citizenship. More
An Evening with Pavel Švanda
September 25, 2017, 20:00
Pavel Švanda, who alongside Václav Havel and Jiří Kuběna was a founder of the 36ers, will read from his new poetry collection Mudrc bělmem (The White Makes the Sage). More
Katrina Kalda: Arithmetic of the Gods
September 25, 2017, 18:00
The young novelist Katrina Kalda originally comes from Estonia (born 1980) but has lived in France since the age of 10 and writes in her second mother tongue, French. She has had three novels published to date on the prestigious Gallimard imprint. Her debut – Un roman estonien (An Estonian Novel) – was issued in Czech by Havran as Estonský roman, translated by Helena Beguivinová. More
Bohuslav Reynek: The Well at Morning
September 26, 2017, 19:00
In connection with the publication of the first collection in English of poems by Bohuslav Reynek, the poet and translator Justin Quinn and the literary theoretician Martin C. Putna have put together an evening dedicated to the fate of literature during the Cold War and the translation of poetry. More
Pavel Hošek: The Gospel According to Jaroslav Foglar
September 27, 2017, 19:00
An evening dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of Jaroslav Foglar, Scout leader and writer, read and despised, surrounded by numerous myths and a victim of the Nazi and Communist regimes, a writer whose work has influenced four generations. More