The Czech Literary Centre at Book World Prague 2024

The centre’s programme for the fair focuses on publishers from German-language countries. This year, the Czech Literary Centre (CLC), a section of the Moravian Library, has once again organized a varied programme for Book World Prague (23 – 26 May), the international book fair and literary festival. The main events are part of the Professional Forum and will be looking at both translation and self-publishing (Friday and Saturday), as well as a series of debates on Thursday and Friday focusing on the Czech Republic as Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair (FBM) in 2026. This year’s main guests at the Book World Prague fair are German-language countries, with writers and translators from Germany, Austria and Switzerland being presented under the title of the literary series “Das Buch”. “The unprecedented participation of more than 22 German-language publishers at this year’s Book World Prague is linked to Czechia’s participation as Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2026. This year, Book World Prague is offering a unique opportunity for a dialogue between Czech and German-language authors, translators and publishers, and I hope this will lead to the establishment of valuable contacts for cooperation in the future,” said Tomáš Kubíček, the director of the Moravian Library, which is overseeing Czechia’s participation as Guest of Honour at the fair in Frankfurt am Main in 2026. The Czech Literary Centre’s programme for Book World Prague focuses mainly on publishers from German-language countries. “We have been working with them over a long period as part of the preparations for being Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2026 with the motto Czechia – A Country on the Coast. We are thus symbolically following the slogan for this year’s fair, which is a quote from Franz Kafka A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us,” said the CLC’s head coordinator Martin Krafl. On Thursday 23 May, the first day of the fair, discussions begin in the afternoon under the title “Setting Sail: Czech Literature Is Heading to Frankfurt”. With the announcement of Czechia as Guest of Honour at the FBM in 2026, interest in Czech literature has grown amongst international publishers and agents. The series of events will introduce Czech authors who will discuss their work and the opportunities to present it abroad. Amongst them will be Petr Hruška, who recently returned from a successful month-long literary tour of the United States, and the writer and translator Radka Denemarková, a recently appointed member of the prestigious German Academy for Language and Literature. This year, the Czech Literary Centre will again devote the Friday programme of the Professional Forum to discussions on translation work. This will begin with the theme of self-publishing and will be followed by discussions between Czech and international translators. Part of the programme will focus on translating children’s literary, specifically the issue of how to transfer a children’s book from one language to another without losing its playfulness, humour, readability and suspense. Another section will look at inclusive language and the instruments of linguistic ethics. The same segment will include a debate between representatives from international institutions belonging to RECIT (European literary translation centres network – a European network of residential centres for translators). They will be discussing a new programme for the support of translators in the role of literary scouts – the Archipelagos project – which the CLC is also actively involved in as a partner institute. The CLC’s coordinator of international cooperation, Michala Čičváková, commented on the programme, “These kinds of activities are essential for the Czech Literary Centre. Translators play a key role in working with foreign publishing houses and promoting Czech literature abroad. Their names appearing on book covers is hugely important, as is the recognition of their often-overlooked work.” There will be a unique opportunity to attend a gathering of Czech and German writers at the Saturday and Sunday series of debates organized by the Czech Literary Centre in conjunction with Das Buch. On Saturday, Fatma Aydemir, Barbara Rieger and Radka Denemarková will be giving their perspectives on the conditions women writers face today. Nicholas Mahler and Vojtěch Mašek (Saturday), and Josephine Mark together with Tereza Čechová Drahoňovská and Štěpánka Jislová (Sunday), will be considering, among other things, the links between comics and literature in the context of health and disabilities. As part of the preparations for the Czech Republic’s aforementioned appearance as Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2026, and for the guest appearance of German-language literature at this year’s Book World Prague, the Czech Literary Centre, in cooperation with the FBM and publishers’ associations from Switzerland and Austria, has invited twenty-two representatives from a total of seventeen publishing firms to Prague. They will be able to participate in the specialist CEEBM programme, familiarize themselves with the Czech publishing industry today, and meet representatives from both Czech and international publishers present at Book World Prague. Invitations have been accepted by a total of seven publishing houses from Germany (Aviva, Ceeolpress, Hanser Kinder- und Jugendbuchverlag, Kiwi, Reprodukt, Suhrkamp, Voland und Quist), five from Austria (Achse Verlag, Czernin Verlag, Jugendbuchverlag, Leykam, Picus), and five from Switzerland (Diogenes, Geparden, Helvetiq, Kommode, Nordsüd). International publishers will also be able to meet Czech authors as part of the Thursday and Friday “Setting Sail” discussion series. The Czech Literary Centre programme for Book World Prague can be downloaded HERE.

projít na článek

Czech Literary Centre Travel Grants – Results

Results of applications for the period from September 1, 2024 to December 15, 2024As of June 10, 2024, the Czech Literary Centre, a section of the Moravian Library, received 33 applications (7 from authors and 26 from institutions) for grants to support C

projít na článek

Petr Hruška’s Literary Tour of the US

The author will be appearing at ten poetry events.The Czech Literary Centre, a section of the Moravian Library, organized and financially supported the poet Petr Hruška’s literary tour of America, where he will present his Everything Indicates: Selected P

projít na článek

Czech Literary Centre Travel Grants – Deadline 10. 6.

The deadline for the next round of applications for authors’ travel grants.The Czech Literary Centre (CLC), a section of the Moravian Library, would like to bring your attention to the next deadline for its programme supporting trips by Czech authors to l

projít na článek

Course: Advanced Course on Preclinical Imaging

16 - 20 September 2024 | Prague and Brno Dear Czech-BioImaging users, we are thrilled to invite you to Advanced Course on Preclinical Imaging jointly organized by 3 Czech-BioImaging Core Facilities:  Microscopy Service Centre of the IEM CAS (Prag

projít na článek

COURSE: Entry-Level Super-Resolution Microscopy

22-24 May 2024 | Microscopy Service Centre, Institute of Experimental Medicine, Czech Acad. Sci., Prague Dear Czech-BioImaging users, we would like to invite you to the regular "Entry-Level Super-Resolution Microscopy course" organised by the CzBI fac

projít na článek