Events: November 2018
October 2018
December 2018
Daniel Kroupa: Masaryk – Patočka – Havel
November 1, 2018, 19:00
Masaryk – Patočka – Havel, a new book by the academic, politician, philosopher and Charter 77 signatory Daniel Kroupa, explores the philosophies of these three Czech thinkers, whose overriding common factor is a call to action. For Masaryk, Patočka and Havel, politics was built on moral foundations. They sought a new spiritual dimension in the life of modern man, for whom neither metaphysics nor traditional religion represent a buttress. Their search also has the potential to be an inspiration to contemporary thinking when it comes to solving present-day political problems, issues surrounding the shape of Europe and our relationship to violence, war and revolution. Most of all, however, it encourages and validates personal engagement, including in situations in which such discourse is not normally present. More
Psí vojáci: Music on the Canvas
03/11/18 – 04/11/18
Music on the Canvas returns to the Václav Havel Library exactly a year later. On the first weekend of November come along and view eight pictures by the young artist Sára Svobodová inspired by the songs and lyrics of Filip Topol and Psí vojáci and celebrate in an intimate fashion the 39thanniversary of their first official concert, which took place at the Prague Jazz Days festival on 3 November 1979.
Věra Jirousová: Tweets 1956–1963
November 5, 2018, 17:00
The second half of the 1950s. Stalin is not long dead. A train passes through Libeň. Workers continue to live and work on Prague’s proletariat periphery. From the only lit window a little school girl observes the world around her. What has happened to her today and what awaits her tomorrow…? More
Lost in Translation III: Editing is Essential!
November 5, 2018, 19:00
Do you look at the credits on books? Are you aware of what the work of the editors and proof readers concerned actually involves? Do some publishers confuse editing with proof reading? Is it completely clear to editors today what their task is? And do translators know what they should and can expect from editors? What are the purview and responsibilities of those engaged in producing books in translation? What should they be? Who is responsible for the final text? More
Republic Café: Lost and Found Post 1918 – The Provincial Nobility
November 6, 2018, 19:00
The foundation of the Czechoslovak Republic a century ago was accompanied not only by patriotic fervour but also concerns about the future. Minorities, the Catholic Church, the aristocracy and many others were faced with decisions regarding to how to proceed. In the uncertainty with which they were treated by the fresh republic they themselves also had to consider how to respond to the new state. More
Jiří Gruša – Writer and Politician
November 9, 2018, 19:00
Evening marking the 80thanniversary of his birth. More
Ivana Ryčlová: They Chose Freedom
November 12, 2018, 17:00
In her latest book Zvolili svobodu (They Chose Freedom), literary historian Ivana Ryčlová maps the fates of the shapers of Russian 20thcentury culture who expressed disagreement with the Soviet-Orwellian reality in which they were living, including Shalamov, Solzhenitsyn, Galich, Sinyavsky, Ratushinskayaand many others. The author outlines how their opposition to the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Soviet forces in 1968 impacted their complicated life stories to varying degrees. Anatoly Marchenko suffered a tragic fate, with his uncompromising positions – including media appearances defending the freedom of Czechoslovakia – meaning he spent the majority of his life in the Gulag, where he died in murky circumstances in the mid 1980s. More
Andriy Lyubka: Your View, Cio-Cio San
November 12, 2018, 20:00
Novelist, poet, essayist and translator Andriy Lyubka is one of the most important members of Ukraine’s young generation of authors and his book Saudadereceived the Yuriy Shevelyov Award in 2017. His poems have been published in the Czech magazine Psí víno. Lyubka’s new novel Your View, Cio-Cio Sanis a psychological thriller about life in contemporary Ukraine, where nothing goes unpunished and both happy and cruel events of the past are reflected in the lives of the future generation. More
Don’t Be Afraid to Go Home
November 14, 2018, 19:00
What happens if we lie to a patient about their state of health? Do serious illnesses have some meaning? And why should we not kill the dying, as proponents of euthanasia wish, but respect their lives until the natural end? More
Film Series: Jan Palach
November 15, 2018, 18:00
Rejecting evil with silent protest More
Theatre Night 2018 – The Power of the Powerless
November 17, 2018, 19:00
The date of this year’s Theatre Night, 17 November, is crucial in Czech history. Theatre and revolution had already been intertwined several times when 29 years ago people of the theatre offered the revolution their stage and became key movers, with the informal leader of the revolution being the dramatist, essayist, human rights activist and later president of the country Václav Havel. More
If Sorrow Smouldered
November 19, 2018, 19:00
The occupation of Czechoslovakia through the eyes of Finnish poet Eeva-Liisa Manner. More
Dear Mum / Dear Alice
November 20, 2018, 19:00
Stage reading of the letters of two exceptional women, Charlotte and Alice Masaryk, from the period when Alice was imprisoned in Vienna in 1915–1916. The letters bear witness to the impressive moral strength of both women at a time when the whole of T. G. Masarky’s family were going through trying times. Their brave stance also represents a stimulating message for the modern age. More
Evenings with Polish Reporters: Volhynia –Polish and Czech Memories
November 21, 2018, 19:00
Same place, different recollections? Czechs and Poles were, alongside Ukrainians and Jews, village neighbours in Volhynia. In the first half of the 20thcentury the picturesque and fertile landscape became the site of bloody battles and the movement of both borders and inhabitants. More
The Low-Carbon Revolution: The Future of Green Energy
November 22, 2018, 19:00
The low-carbon economy is one element of energy policy and therefore also sustainable energy policy. It comes in response to climate change and will aid the long-term maintenance of quality of life for us and future generations. It encompasses sustainable transport and mobility and intelligent distribution, storage and energy transfer systems. The low-carbon economy is cost-saving and socially inclusive. It requires society-wide vision, cooperation with industry, investment in science and research and the involvement of society, citizens, industry, research, politics and the public administration. The shape of the debate in the Czech Republic, the areas Czechs are strong or weak in and what lessons they can draw from abroad will be the subject of a discussion on the benefits of the low-carbon economy. More
Simon Mawer: Prague Spring
November 23, 2018, 18:00
Simon Mawer, author of the New York Times bestseller The Glass Room, returns to Czechoslovakia with his novel Prague Spring set in the turbulent 1960s. The Prague Spring and the Cold War, Dubček’s “socialism with a human face”, Czechoslovak youth brimming with hope and new ideas. Behind the Iron Curtain nothing seems impossible in this moment. However, the massive cogs of politics are turning in the background, the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev is putting the pressure on and the Red Army is assembling on the borders… More
Ivan Martin Jirous – Mága
November 26, 2018, 19:00
“Baptism” of the book Mága and a project to digitalise Jirous’s work. More
When Will it Go Off? Tomorrow!
November 27, 2018, 12:00
Where? In Teplice, in Liberec, in Prague… in all of the country’s regions. More
Boris Khersonsky – Family Archive: Vanished Eastern Europe
November 28, 2018, 19:00
The Ukrainian poet, journalist and doctor Boris Khersnosky, who lives in Odessa, will present the first Czech translation of his novel in verse Family Archive. More
Josef Topol: Seasons of the Heart
November 29, 2018, 17:00
Sezóny srdce (Collage In Adagio) (Seasons of the Heart (Collage in Adagio) is a book of interviews with Josef Topol conducted by Karel Hvížďala between 2003 and 2005. It is supplemented by correspondence between the author’s grandparents and parents as well as his own letters, diary entries, period documents and over 100 unique photographs. More
Recollections of Natalya Gorbanevskaya
November 29, 2018, 20:00
In this country she is best-known as one of the eight brave people who protested against the occupation of Czechoslovakia on Red Square on 25 August 1968. Thanks to the fragments of her poetry translated to date the Czech public also know a few of her poems. More