Events: April 2024
March 2024
May 2024
Magnesia Litera II
April 3, 2024, 19:00
Writers nominated in various categories in the Magnesia Litera book awards will read from their works. Appearing will be Klára Krásenská (DILIA Litera for debut of the year), Alena Machoninová (Luxor Litera for prose), Tereza Matějčková (ČRo Plus Litera for reporting) and Kateřina Přidalová (Litera for children’s and young adult fiction). Pavel Mandys will host the event.
Let’s Get Stuck In!, or Literature and Politics Today
April 8, 2024, 19:00
The second edition of Josef Chuchma’s discussion quarterly More
Magnesia Litera III
April 10, 2024, 19:00
Writers nominated in various categories in the Magnesia Litera book awards will read from their works. Appearing will be Zofia Baldyga (Litera for poetry), Eli Beneš (DILIA Litera for debut of the year), Noemi Cupalová (Litera for children’s and young adult fiction) and Veronika Pehe (ČRo Plus Litera for journalism). Pavel Mandys will host the event.
Michal Ajvaz: Passages
April 11, 2024, 19:00
Pasáže (Passages) is the ninth book of prose by Michal Ajvaz. At the same time, it is as if it were not his ninth title, but rather another part of one and the same endless book with an eternally flowing narrative. The launch of the new novel, released by the Druhé město publishing house, will take place in the form of an author’s reading and subsequent discussion about Ajvaz’s literary and philosophical universe. Štěpán Kučera will chair.
Upcomming events
Launch N: Czechy: You Couldn’t Make it Up
April 16, 2024, 19:00
Launch of the book Czechy. To nevymyslíš (Czechy: You Couldn’t Make it Up). Polish author Aleksander Kaczorowski shows us our country as we can never perceive it – from the outside, yet in the style of an insider, with immense knowledge of the facts and with love. Deník N editor Petr Koubský and the author of the new release will discuss not only the book but relations between Poles and Czechs and the similarities, and differences, between two close but sometimes dramatically different neighbouring countries.
Magnesia Litera IV
April 17, 2024, 19:00
Writers nominated in various literature categories in the Magnesia Litera book awards will read from their works. Appearing will be Kamil Bouška (Litera for poetry), Tomáš Peřina (DILIA Litera for debut of the year) and Marek Torčík (Luxor Litera for prose). Pavel Mandys will host the event.
Tom Stoppard: Plays III
April 18, 2024, 17:00
Evening dedicated to Tom Stoppard: Hry III (Tom Stoppard: Plays III), a collection of works by the British playwright and screenwriter, who was a contemporary and friend of Václav Havel. More
Radomyr Mokryk: The Birth of Dissent in Ukraine
April 22, 2024, 19:00
The new book by Ukrainian Historian Radomyr Mokryk, Zrození disentu: šedesátníci a tání na Ukrajině (The Birth of Dissent: The ‘60s Generation and the Thaw in Ukraine), tells the story of a group of Ukrainian writers, poets, literary critics and intellectuals who shaped the cultural opposition to the Soviet regime in Ukraine during Khrushchev’s “thaw”, becoming known as the “’60s generation”. The gradual revelation of the historical crimes of the Soviet government, an understanding of the policy of Russification and opposition to official censorship led this generation to dissent. The book traces the fate of Ukrainian intellectuals and their transformation from relatively loyal Soviet citizens into dissidents. It illuminates the colonial nature of Russian-Ukrainian relations in the period, a fact that ultimately drove the emergence of the Ukrainian dissent. More
Sergio Ramírez: On Literature and the Fight Against Dictatorship
April 24, 2024, 19:00
Sergio Ramírez is one of the greatest contemporary Nicaraguan writers, as well as being one of the most vocal opponents of the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega. His 2021 novel Tongolele Did Not Know How to Dance, set against the backdrop of the brutal suppression of the largest protests yet against Ortega’s regime, combines both of these strands. Sergio Ramírez will talk about both his literary work and the workings of the Nicaraguan dictatorship, which will be familiar to many who remember the communist regime in Czechoslovakia. More
The Free Academy: Hana Dufková
April 25, 2024, 19:00
What’s the Deal with Strong Words? On Changes in Language and in Society More
VH Library at Bookfest
April 27, 2024, 10:00 Participation on local events
After Prague and Pilsen, the Bookfest festival of small publishers is spilling over into České Budějovice for the second time. A stand with books, posters and other essentials from the Václav Havel Library will also be present.
Pavel Hošek: The Gospel According to Bohumil Hrabal
April 30, 2024, 19:00
Bohumil Hrabal's work contains many secrets. Some have only recently come to light with the discovery of previously unknown recordings of Hrabal’s talks at the rectory in Libice nad Cidlinou, where he was a regular visitor in the 1980s. Pavel Hošek’s Evangelium podle Bohumila Hrabala (The Gospel According to Bohumil Hrabal) draws on those freshly discovered materials and offers a comprehensive interpretation of the spiritual dimension of the literary work of one of the greatest Czech writers. Pavel Hošek will take part in a discussion with Tomáš Mazal. More