The Czech translation of her “fateful” collection of essays Notes on Tibet was carried out directly from the Chinese original. The 2003 book, which launched her journey as a dissident and independent novelist, is a highly subjective, poetic and multilayered work capturing the reality of Tibet in the second half of the 20th century.

The sinologists and translators Olga Lomová and Kamila Hladíková will host the evening.

Granting the interview to Karel Hvížďala meant that he sidestepped the responsibility of writing a memoir himself one day. He later did a follow-up with the author entitled Prosím stručně (To the Castle and Back). The original interview in book form was first published in Czech in London in 1986 in connection with Havel’s 50th birthday. The new, twelfth Czech edition has been prepared by the LEDA publishing house 30 years after Václav Havel began working with Karel Hvížďala. The interview has been translated into more than 20 languages.

Guests will include Petr Fischer, Petr Pithart, Karel Hvížďala and publisher Rudolf Červenka. Actor Josef Somr will read from the book and Jaroslav Hutka will perform.

The evening takes place in cooperation with the LEDA publishing house.

Self-censorship: How does it manifest itself in a society?

Speakers:  Artemij Troitsky – rock music critic and historic (Russia), František “Čuňas” Stárek (Czech Republic). Chair: Anton Litvin.

Event in Russian held within the framework of the Kulturus festival.

The second was Fighting Solidarity, described in the book The Fortress by journalist Igor Janke. The translator and journalist Petruška Šustrová will read about both forms of Polish resistance in her own translations of the works.

The project was prepared by friends and colleagues of Hrabal who have explored his life and work over many years. Its final shape is a modern presentation that explores the poetic level of Hrabal’s life and work in an original, comprehensible and attractive manner through a vivid visual and aural collage.

In the last two years the project has been presented in cooperation with the Czech Centres network in Paris, Amsterdam, Warsaw, Munich, Venice, Stockholm, Poznan, Krakow, Gdansk, Salzburg, Budapest, Beijing, Constance and Bielsko-Biala.

Authors: Tomáš Mazal, Václav Špale and Jiří Rejthar with video and audio collaboration from Jan Čapek.

The evening will include the presentation of a new volume of The Works entitled Situace vlka (Situation of the Wolf).

The poetic evening will be hosted by Jiří Fiedor, head of publishers Pulchra, and visual artist Otto Placht, while Jakub Mužík will provide musical accompaniment.

The author draws on his own experiences, allowing for a deeper understanding of the rawness, absurdity and cruelty of life in a country that has experienced a specific historic development incomparable with that of other European countries and where any deviation from norms established by party ideology was punished draconically. Listening to foreign music or reading banned literature meant not just losing one’s job or being expelled from one’s studies – even in the 1980s the accused ended up with long sentences in prison or labour camps...

The book will be introduced by J. E. Riza Poda, ambassador of the Albanian Republic. The evening will be hosted by Hana Tomková, who will also interpret. Petr Čulík will read in Czech. In cooperation with the publishing house Nakladatelství Petr Štengl.

The fairytale O Pracháčkovi (About Pracháček) was created within the framework of the Hrobka (Tomb) debating society. A completely exceptional, pranksterish group in the context of the Czech dissent, it was set up by Olga Stankovičová with sociologist Jarmila Bělíková and Olga Havlová in 1981. The manuscript was dedicated to the two of them.

The aim is to recall in a humane way processes that are unjustly neglected or forced out of the normal life of the society. The evening will include the presentation of a collection of texts by nine participants – academics and journalists, people from public life – that were published in abridged form in the review Listy.

Professor Jiří Přibáň said of the project: “A unique project combining the methods of biographical sociology and history with general philosophical and ethical subjects and dilemmas.”