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One on OneBrian Keenan - Irish author who survived five years of hostage hell
My guest today has, without any exaggeration, been to hell and back: Brian
Keenan was kidnapped in Beirut in 1986 by the militant group Islamic Jihad
and held hostage in the most appalling conditions for almost five
years. Mr Keenan, who comes from Belfast, won a great deal of respect and
admiration for the way he documented his terrible experiences in his book
"An Evil Cradling". When he was in Prague last weekend promoting
the Czech version of the book, I spoke to Brian Keenan in the dining room
of his hotel. He began by outlining what had happened to him. More
Current AffairsSuccessful Irish-American author Michael Collins visits Prague for Bookworld 2004
The focus of this year's Prague Bookworld was on Irish, Scottish and Welsh
literature. Among the guests at Bookworld, which was held at Prague's
Vystaviste trade-fair centre, was novelist Michael Collins, who was born
in Ireland but has made his name in the US, with books such as The Keepers
of Truth and The Resurrectionists. Before the event ended on Sunday
evening, I spoke to Michael Collins and asked him why he had come to
Prague for Bookworld.
More
Czech BooksTomas Mika - a Pilgrim's Progress from lyric poetry to hip-hop
Tomas Mika is a man of many talents - poet, translator and hip-hop
performer. Today we talk to him about his most recent work and his history
as a poet, but I'd like to start with his work as a translator. The books
he's translated include Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress", James
Hogg's "Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner" and most
recently Samuel Beckett's "Watt".
More
Current AffairsOne World - human rights film festival
Next Wednesday, the 6th annual International Human Rights Documentary film
festival begins in Prague. Last year, Jeden Svet or One World attracted
22,500 people. With 156 screenings, festival organizers hope to see 60,000
visitors at the various venues around the city this year. Dita Asiedu
reports:
More
Czech BooksEuro-Stodge or the Dawning of a Golden Age? How three European writers see the future of the continent.
This special edition of Czech Books comes from the Hotel Josef in one of
the winding medieval streets of Prague's Old Town; this is where writers
from different corners of the globe - from Saint Petersburg to
Johannesburg - have gathered for the 14th Prague Writers' Festival. Prague
is right in the heart of Europe: if you go some fifteen hundred kilometres
to the north-west, you get to Britain, if you go the same distance in the
opposite direction, you reach Greece. So with just days to go till the
expansion of the European Union, I'm joined by writers from Greece, the
Czech Republic and the United Kingdom.
More
Current AffairsWorld-renowned Czech novelist Milan Kundera celebrates 75th birthday
April 1st marks the 75th anniversary of the birth of perhaps the best known
contemporary Czech novelist in the world, Milan Kundera. Rather
surprisingly, the author - who has visited the country on only a couple of
occasions since the Velvet Revolution - is less popular in the Czech
Republic than he is elsewhere. But why isn't Kundera held in high regard
in the country of his birth? More
Current AffairsPrague Writers' Festival highlights: the poetry of Miloslav Topinka
This year's Prague Writers' Festival, which has now come and gone, but left
a lot to be thankful for and a lot to remember. Not least was a meeting of
poets Miloslav Topinka and Zbigniew Machej on Theatre Minor's stage for a
reading of their work last Wednesday.
More
Current AffairsAuthor Gary Shteyngart - a former expatriate - returns to Prague for writers' festival
Of all the authors' participating in this years' Prague Writers' Festival,
none seems like a more apt choice than Gary Shteyngart. His award-winning
first novel - The Russian Debutante's Handbook - is actually set in Prague
during the early 1990s. The novel has received much praise for the sharp,
satirical manner in which it portrays the notorious American expatriate
scene that existed in the city back then. We met up with him while he was
here to talk about his comic portrayal of this particular period in
Prague's recent history.
More
Current AffairsPrague Writers' Festival finds its groove with Anghelaki-Rooke, Hofmann, & Irwin: this is what a world-class festival is all about
This week the 14th annual Prague Writers' Festival has been underway in
Prague and Jan Velinger has been attending afternoon discussions and the
so-called "International Evenings". On Wednesday the evening
programme welcomed Greek poet Katerina Anghelaki-Rooke, German-born
English poet Michael Hofmann, and English writer Robert Irwin. As Jan
Velinger now reports this was the unforgettable night that visitors had
been waiting for.
More
Czechs in HistoryA look at the life and work of Jan Neruda
Poet, writer, and journalist, Jan Neruda has long been recognised as one of
the outstanding figures of 19th century Czech literature, an author who
mastered the art of the feuilleton, whose column was published regularly
in the politically-liberal Narodni listy, and read widely by the masses.
An ironical but also often melancholic poet who strived for modernity and
the defeat of provincialism; a writer whose works were carefully dissected
in his day who was endlessly expected to write his 'great' novel, but
whose ultimate masterpiece remains his cycle of short stories titled
'Tales of the Little Quarter'. Stories that offered a satirical but also
gentle depiction of the loves, lives, and small failures of petty
bourgeois inhabitants of Mala Strana. An area which to this day remains
the most picturesque area of the capital beneath Prague Castle and Petrin
Hill.
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