Events: November 2024
October 2024
December 2024
Sufism and Islam in the Czech Milieu
November 1, 2024, 19:00
Presentation of the first volume of an annotated Czech translation of a jewel of Islamic mystical writing, together with a discussion on perceptions of Islam in the Czech milieu and Czech writing. Marie Povýšilová from the Academia publishing house will discuss Qušajrího pojednání o nauce súfismu (Qushayri’s Treatise on the Doctrine of Sufism), written by one of the most influential medieval Sufi scholars, Imam Abu al-Qasim al-Qushayri, with its translator, the Islamic and Arabic studies expert Bronislav Ostřanský.
Launch N: Frozen Souls
November 5, 2024, 19:00
The book Zamrzlé duše (Frozen Souls) delivers interviews on the pain and trauma of wounded souls and the search for strength on the path to healing. In powerful personal interviews, Renata Kalenská reveals the stories of both female and male victims of sexualised violence. What does the daily journey to healing look like for each of them, how is society treating them, and what do traumatised “frozen souls” most require? The author was inspired to put the publication together by Jasmína Houdek, who teaches courses with the organisation Modern Self-Defence. She entrusted the journalist with her own extraordinary story, in which she managed to find the strength to help not only herself but also others. Taking part in a discussion with Renata Kalenská will be Jasmína Houdek, Pavel Houdek (also of Modern Self-Defence) and Jiří Kylar (chairman of the association Someone Believes You). The participants will also “baptise” the book together.
Together: Contacts between the Czechoslovak and Polish Dissent in the 1980s
November 6, 2024, 19:00
Friendships that dissolved borders – such was the cooperation between the anti-communist opposition in Poland and Czechoslovakia. The secret police tried to prevent meetings between them, only intensifying the mutual solidarity and giving rise to a unique international opposition group, Polish-Czechoslovak Solidarity. The first contacts between the world of Charter 77 and Poland’s KOR were mediated by, among others, Andrzej S. Jagodziński, a Czech Studies expert and translator of the works of Václav Havel, Josef Škvorecký and Jiří Gruša who later became a diplomat and journalist. One of the most active members of the Polish-Czechoslovak Solidarity was Mirosław Jasiński, an art historian, diplomat, politician and today the director of the City Gallery in Wrocław. This discussion with them will recall key moments of Polish-Czechoslovak opposition cooperation, of which they have many personal memories. The talk will be moderated by Petr Blažek, historian and director of the Museum of 20th Century Memory. More
Presentation of Knife by Salman Rushdie
November 7, 2024, 19:00
The book Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder is an intimate meditation on life, loss and finding one’s feet again, penned by the world-renowned writer Salman Rushdie in response to an attack on him two years ago. More
Josef Koudelka: Diaries and NEXT
November 11, 2024, 19:00
An evening celebrating two books that show the personal side of the world famous Czech photographer Josef Koudelka (born 1938). Tomáš Pospěch, the editor of Deníky (Diaries), will guide the audience through half a century of Koudelka’s personal diaries in words and pictures, looking at their character and visual form how they changed over the decades. In the second half of the evening, Jan Šulc, the editor of the Czech version of Koudelka’s biography NEXT by American photography historian Melissa Harris, will explain how the book is constructed, what the author needed to study, learn and master, and whom she had to talk to in order to create this extraordinary biography. The evening will be hosted by Jáchym Topol. More
Debate with Respekt
November 12, 2024, 19:00
Discussion featuring editors from the weekly Respekt and their guests. For more information visit www.vaclavhavel.cz prior to the event.
Resistant or Toothless? Democracy Versus Populism in Central Europe
November 13, 2024, 18:00
A panel discussion featuring prominent personalities ready to provide educated insight into the current political situation in the Czech Republic, Germany and Austria. They will present an analysis of the situation in their respective countries in the context of Europe-wide challenges, and offer views on how populism and anti-system parties affect political stability, public trust and the future of (Central) European cooperation. This is a unique opportunity to meet people who are shaping political developments in our region, and to learn more about what these trends mean for us all. The gathering is being held in connection with the presentation of a new publication, Odolná střední Evropa. Cesta k bezpečné budoucnosti (Resistant Central Europe: The Path to a Secure Future). More
Circus ÚSTR: That Was the Czech Dissent? Our Journey from Totalitarianism to Freedom
November 14, 2024, 19:00
This year marks 35 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Velvet Revolution and the beginning of the disintegration of the Soviet-Russian empire. What role did the Czech dissent play in this? How did it handle the transformation of a communist totalitarian dictatorship into a democratic state with a confident civil society? What is the legacy of the Czech dissent? How, and for whom, might it be inspiring today? And, in the face of new forms of totalitarianism, what condition are Czech democracy, the West and the world in right now? Taking part in the debate will be one-time dissidents and post-1989 politicians Daniel Kroupa and Pavel Bratinka. Chaired by historian and philosopher Petr Hlaváček, director of the Department of Research and Education at the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes. More
Aleš Palán Launch: This Book Will Change Your Life
November 15, 2024, 19:00
The journalist, writer and editor Aleš Palán will present his new work Tahle kniha ti změní život (This Book Will Change Your Life) (Host). Subtitled Conversations on the Unexpected Power of Reading, it tells the stories of people whose lives have been impacted by books. A former sex worker, the father of a sick son, a parish priest, the owner of an underground publishing house, a supermarket clerk, a mystery writer and a nurse all talk about their lives. Each of them just needed to read the right book at the right time and their lives were utterly transformed. Suddenly it was possible to find a way out of a dead end, to become active and to cope with adversity around them or within them. It may be rare, but books still have the power to change people’s destinies. You just need to believe – and open one.
17 November with the Václav Havel Library
November 17, 2024, 10:00
You can commemorate the 35th anniversary of the events of the Velvet Revolution with us at the traditional Václav Havel’s Living Room on the plaza of the National Theatre, where Czech and Slovak actors will perform texts by Václav Havel and other authors throughout the day. You will also find a VHL stand with books, posters and other essentials. All this is being prepared in cooperation with the Thanks That We Can association, as part of the event Národní Promenade. At the same time, the Library is holding an open day at Ostrovní 13. The programme includes a meeting with photographer Tomki Němec, who, in the form of a narrated projection of photographs from his book Václav Havel, will reminisce about the intense 1990s, which he was able to share directly with the president in his role as Havel’s personal photographer. More
Launch of Journalist Radek Bartoníček’s Autobiography
November 18, 2024, 19:00
How is it when one’s job is a calling, a passion and a hobby all at once? Is it possible to reconcile 100% commitment to journalism with family and personal life? And where does the journalism profession take you? These are just some of the questions the journalist Radek Bartoníček reflects on in his book Novinařina je můj život (Journalism is My Life). All aspects of journalism – both rewarding and devastating – are sure to come up in the launch and discussion.
Tenzin Tsundue Book Launch
November 19, 2024, 19:00
We invite you to an evening celebrating Tibetan culture, poetry and literature on the occasion of the launch of the Czech edition of Tenzin Tsundue’s collection of poems and essays entitled Kora. The evening will also feature performances by nomadic singer Sonam Dolma and musician Loten Namling. Their work and the discussion that follows will help to illuminate visitors about the importance of art in the search for and definition of Tibetan identity. Discussion guests will include poet Jana Hradilková and Tibetan scholar Zuzana Ondomišiová. Kateřina Procházková will moderate the talk, which will be followed by a book sale and signing session. More
The Free Academy: Martin Buchtík – Czechia 35 Years After the Velvet Revolution
November 21, 2024, 19:00
How has Czech society changed in the last 35 years and how will it change going forward? Why do we seem to understand each other less and less and feel that the grass used to be greener? And can all of this be demonstrated, at least in part, through data? Martin Buchtík is a sociologist and director of the STEM research institute. He works on topics related to the dynamically changing society in a broader context and other issues such as public opinion formation, quality of life, cohesion and inequality. In the past, he directed the Public Opinion Research Centre at the Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, and completed his doctoral studies at Charles University with a focus on sociological research methodology. More
The Agadir Company: On the Strings of Hope
November 22, 2024, 19:00
An evening of poetry and music based on Náš čas vypršel and Můj první kryt (Our Time is up and My First Cover) (Protimluv publishing house), books of passionate and amorous verses in part influenced by the ongoing cruel war in Ukraine, by Igor Pomerantsev, a Russian poet resident in Prague. The evening will take place in the personal presence of both the author and translator Jana Kitzlerová.
Luigi Zoja: Paranoia: The Madness That Makes History
November 25, 2024, 19:00
Who writes history? The victors, or paranoia? The Italian psychoanalyst Luigi Zoya will discuss the new Czech edition of his book Paranoia: The Madness That Makes History (PROSTOR) with journalist Michaela Krčmová and writer Michael Žantovský. More
In conversation with... Helen Oyeyemi
November 26, 2024, 19:00
UK novelist and short story writer Helen Oyeyemi has been living in the Czech capital for the last decade. Indeed her latest novel, 2024’s Parasol Against the Axe, is set in the city and has been described as “a wild ride through Prague” by The Guardian. In a rare public appearance in her adopted home, Oyeyemi will speak to Ian Willoughby, a journalist with Radio Prague International, in the latest edition of the In Conversation With… series of occasional talks in English at the Václav Havel Library.
Havel-Cleveringa Lecture – Prof. Dr. Petr Kopecký: „Political Patronage, clientelism and autocratization“
November 26, 2024, 17:30
For the fourth time, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Czech Republic, in collaboration with the Václav Havel Library, is hosting a gala evening under the patronage of the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, H.E. Daan Huisinga. The event pays tribute to human and civil rights activists Rudolf Cleveringa, a professor at Leiden University imprisoned by the Germans, and Václav Havel, who bravely opposed the falsehoods of communism. This year's Cleveringa Lecture will feature Prof. dr. Petr Kopecký. More
Presentation of 2024 Climate Change Communication Prize
November 27, 2024, 16:00
For the sixth time, the Climate Change Communication Prize, a prestigious award for scientists and experts on climate change sponsored by the United Nations Information Office for the Czech Republic and the Learned Society of the Czech Republic, will be presented at the Václav Havel Library; in addition the Inspiration from Abroad Prize will also be presented this year for the first time. It will be bestowed on Anna Holligan, the BBC’s Netherlands correspondent, whose lecture will be presented together with an address by the 2024 laureate. The evening will be hosted by Kateřina Poláková from Czech Television.
Ondřej Fibich – Seventy Years in the Service of Life, Poetry and Freedom
November 28, 2024, 19:00
Celebration of the 70th birthday of Ondřej Fibich, sportsman, poet, dissident, editor, publisher, Šumava expert and patriot, and member of the Community of Bards. The band Fénix will perform a Christmas suite while Sylvie Krobová and Jiří Smrž will also play. Martin Patřičný will host the evening and recite the poems of the man of the hour.