Events: January 2020 December 2019 February 2020
Krzysztof Miller: Breakthroughs and Conflicts
08/11/19 – 05/01/20 Participation on local events
Work by the Polish photo reporter from the Velvet Revolution and around the world. More
Amputations: Stories from an Undeclared War
January 6, 2020, 19:00
Igor Pomerantsev, a poet, radio dramatist and journalist with the BBC and Radio Free Europe, will introduce a pictorial book by five authors focused on the tragedy of the war in Eastern Ukraine. Amputation is a versatile metaphor for the excising of part of the body, of state territory and also of human consciousness. The heroes of Igor Pomerantsev’s poetry collection Amputace (Amputations) are 12 volunteer soldiers who set off to protect their country and returned from the war without limbs. How to live? To forget or to remember? To reconcile oneself or to fight? As the officer Andrej Skorochod says, losing a leg is forever but losing Crimea or Donbas is not. More
A Reading for Josef Škvorecký
January 7, 2020, 18:30
You are cordially invited to a reading of the correspondence of the Škvoreckýs, the married exiles who founded ’68 Publishers, and more. More
Amnesty
January 9, 2020, 19:00
An amnesty may be criminal, premediated or based on a desire for fundamental change. The new Czechoslovak president Václav Havel declared an amnesty on 1 January 1990. Later referred to as the great amnesty, it became associated with a rise in crime. However, it was intended to help society come to terms with a regime regarded as unjust to all as well as to allow a transformation of the repressive penal system. More
First State Visit: Václav Havel in Munich
January 13, 2020, 20:00 Participation on events abroad
On December 29, 1989 Václav Havel was elected Czechoslovak president, with the playwright president became an icon of the Velvet Revolution. Just four days later, on January 2, 1990 he carried out his first international trip to Germany, where he visited Munich. As a trip, it was an important signal. But how come it took place so soon? What were the intentions behind it? And how did Václav Havel do as a novice in world politics? More
Debate with Respect
January 14, 2020, 19:00
Editors of the weekly Respekt and their guests will discuss a topical issue. For more details visit www.Václavhavel.cz
Bohdan Holomíček: I’m Not Sad
January 16, 2020, 19:00
Ceremonial launch of the Pocket VH Plays series. More
Jan Lukavec: Imaginary Zoology
January 20, 2020, 19:00
Havel’s pig, Kafka’s chimpanzee… and other animals in the works of major writers. How did the perception of animals evolve under our predecessors? What place did dogs, ants or magpies occupy in their minds and what remains of those meanings today? And can literature help us a achieve a better relationship with our “furry friends” than the one that has prevailed in modern times? More
Evening with an Illiterate
January 23, 2020, 19:00
Presentation of the Czech translation of the book Analfabet (The Illiterate), published by Větrné mlýny, by the writer and intellectual guru of contemporary Slovakia Michal Havran. More
Jiří Peňás: Excursions for the Senior and Advanced
January 27, 2020, 19:00
A fun evening bordering on a variety show for the senior and advanced. More
Přemysl Houda: The Normalisation Festival
January 28, 2020, 19:00
Normalizační festival (The Normalisation Festival) is an original monograph about Czechoslovak late socialism, in particular the late socialist public sphere, which is today regarded as toxic. The book’s author Přemysl Houda eschews the dichotomy of dead and living water and shows that it was indeed possible to do something meaningful with the grey words of socialism at that time. More
Evening Marking the Anniversary of Jan Balabán’s Birth
January 29, 2020, 19:00
The first part of the evening will be given over to the play Bezruč?! by Jan Balabán and Ivan Motýl. In a slight modification of the play, we have focused on the relationship between Vašek/Bezruč and Marie/Maryčka. Taking part in the play, in the form of a staged reading, will be actors and non-actors, though all will delight together in the beauty and urgency of the text. (Featuring: Zuzana Truplová, Přemysl Bureš, Jakub Chrobák, Zdeněk Janošec Benda and co-author Ivan Motýl, director: Přemysl Bureš). More
Ivo Vodseďálek – Little-Known Genius
January 30, 2020, 19:00
The work of Ivo Vodseďálek (1931–2017) can without hype be described as one of the previously undiscovered treasures of modern Czech literature. The writer is virtually unknown to most readers but enjoys an almost cult status in the literary community. His friends and admirers included such greats of Czech literature as Bohumil Hrabal, Kamil Lhoták, Vladimír Boudník and Egon Bondy, while his legacy has been the focus of literary historians and critics for some time. Dílo 1949–1998 (Works, 1949–1998), a voluminous, 1,100-page volume of Vodseďálek’s selected poetry will be presented by its editor Martin Machovec, author Jáchym Topol, filmmaker Olina Kaufmanová (Vodseďálek’s daughter) and Argo publishing house editor Petr Onufer. More