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ArtsMagnesia Litera Awards announced
Last weekend, the winners of the Magnesia Litera book awards for the
best Czech books published in 2002 were announced in Prague.
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Czech BooksIva Pekarkova: a Czech writer at home on both sides of the Atlantic
Welcome to "Czech Books", our new fortnightly series devoted to
Czech writing and writers. In a series of interviews over the next few
weeks the writer and musician Pavla Jonssonova, well known from the
popular band Zuby Nehty, will be talking to a number of Czechs writing
today. She starts with one of the most interesting contemporary Czech
novelists, Iva Pekarkova, whose books are filled with energy, eroticism
and heroines who are not afraid to take their fate into their own hands.
Her first novel appeared in English as "Truck Stop Rainbows" in
1992, and is about a young woman who seeks freedom on the open road in the
unlikely setting of communist Czechoslovakia. And Gin, the heroine of her
more recent novel "Gimme the Money" is just as fearless, in a
story inspired by the author's own experiences as a New York cab driver in
the 1990s. Readers in English will soon have the chance to get to know
another Czech heroine or anti-heroine, when Iva's novel "The
Scars" appears later this year. The action heroine is an untypical
feature of Czech writing, and this was what interested Pavla Jonssonova,
when she caught up with Iva a few days ago in a Prague café.
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ArtsRoma artists release new book and CD
Today's edition is devoted to artists from the country's Roma community.
We'll be looking at a new book that's hit the shelves and a recently
released CD of the Roma band Terne Chave:
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WitnessFrom Kundera in Texas to Czech History in New York City
Bradley Abrams is an associate professor of history at Columbia University in New York City, where he specialises in the history of the Czech lands. He received his bachelors degree from the University of Texas and his masters and doctoral degrees from Stanford University. It was at Stanford University that he studied the history of East Europe, and here he describes how a book by Milan Kundera in a Texas bookstore sparked his initial interest in Czech history. More
Current AffairsFerdinand Peroutka: Journalist of Czech Democracy
Twenty-five years ago, on Sunday April 20, Czech journalist and creative
writer Ferdinand Peroutka, affectionately called "Mr.
Czechoslovakia" in America, died in exile in New York. A fierce
fighter for democratic values in Czechoslovak society, Peroutka didn't let
the Nazis or Communists tell him what to think or what to write, and he
did pay dearly for not succumbing to political pressures. I
spoke with journalist and political commentator Vaclav Zak, who believes
that journalists today have something to learn from Peroutka.
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Czechs in HistoryBittersweet prose - a look at the life and work of writer Ota Pavel
'How I Came to Know Fish' - for years I glimpsed this elegant volume of
short stories in Prague's English-language bookstores, at times wondering
over its greenish cover featuring a fish on a hook. I wondered blankly
over the name of its author, without, I admit, inquiring further. Ota
Pavel. The name, though known to most Czechs, said nothing to me then, at
most I had an inkling the author had been a sports journalist for Czech
Radio in the 1950s. Then I caught a glimpse of his photo somewhere - Ota
Pavel, writer - the author in his youth, a black and white picture of a
dashing figure with a slanted fedora, staring thoughtfully into the lens.
I caught a glimpse and when I heard of a film by the director Karel
Kachyna based on the author's work, equally suggestive, I began to wonder
about his life even more. The story of Ota Pavel, with its twists and
final haunting downfall - and 'How I Came to Know Fish' - both looked at
in today's Czechs in History.
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Current AffairsNew book reveals unusual facts about ten presidents
Did you know that eight of the ten presidents of Czechoslovakia and the
Czech Republic spent time in prison? Or that Czechoslovakia's first
president, Tomas Garrigue Masaryk, rode horses until the age of eighty
three, and one of his favourites was a bay horse called Hektor? A recently
released book titled "Ten Presidents" gives us these and other
unusual insights into the lives of the presidents of Czechoslovakia and
the Czech Republic.
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Current AffairsInterpretations of reality: Yann Martel's Life of Pi
One of the many interesting authors invited to this year's Prague Writer's
Festival was Yann Martel, a Canadian novelist who made headlines
world-wide by winning the prestigious Man Booker prize for his novel Life
of Pi. Jan Velinger, who attended the festival, met the writer to discuss
his fascinating book.
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Current AffairsPrague Writers' Festival hits peak with readings by Jeffrey Eugenides, Irvine Welsh
This year's annual Prague Writers' Festival has come to its final day and
already it is obvious it will go down as one of the most successful
literary events in the Czech Republic in 2003. Appearances by
world-renowned writers at Theatre Minor in Prague, have been heavily
attended to hear from famous, as well as lesser known, authors. The
festival reached probably its highest peak two nights ago: Tuesday saw
appearances by fresh Pulitzer prize winner Jeffrey Eugenides, who read
from Middlesex, and Irvine Welsh, who read from his provocative first novel
Trainspotting.
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Current AffairsPrague isn't just the names Havel and Kafka: Author Peter Demetz returns to his birthplace
During the Prague Writers' Festival's Tuesday panel discussion titled
"The Great Dream of Heaven," Prague-born Peter Demetz described
the American way of life as a sort of mythical entity that is much more
than the golden arches of the McDonald's restaurants which stand out like
eyesores throughout the American landscape. A resident of the USA since
1949, he said he considers America to be a sort of heaven because a person
doesn't need a past, doesn't have to remember. Just what does the author
of the extensive history Prague In Black and Gold have to say about his
birthplace and his current visit to the Czech capital? I spoke with him
after Tuesday's event.
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