Czech Books | All stories

The F. X. Salda Award is named after one the key figures in the history of Czech writing. Salda, who lived from 1867 to 1937, was the father of modern Czech literary criticism, and had a huge influence on the development of Czech writing at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. So it is apt that the F.X. Salda award is given every year to literary and art critics who are felt to be continuing the tradition he began. This year it went to Jan Stolba, a man of many talents. He is probably best known as a jazz tenor saxophonist, but he is also a

If anybody can be described as a born poet, then Tera Fabianova must be a strong candidate. Although she left school at just eleven, she was fluent in four languages, and her poetry and stories are unmatched in the way they take the rhythms of the spoken word and draw out their lyrical potential - whether in Czech, Hungarian or her native tongue: Tera, who died in March at the age of 76, was a Romany, and much of her work was written in the Romany language, spoken in various dialects by Europe's Roma communities for many centuries.

There is nothing unusual about politicians writing books. Sometimes they outline a political vision, or they might be a gesture to posterity in the hope of putting a particular "spin" on how events are remembered, and occasionally we come across an attempt to discredit political rivals or former friends. In this respect the Czech Republic is no exception, with such books available in abundance in our bookshops. But one recent publication did cause quite a stir. It was a huge glossy picture book, devoted entirely to photographs of the man nicknamed

On 17th March, Radek Hanykovics would have celebrated his 38th birthday. Radek had known for some time that his lung cancer was untreatable, but his death on 30th January still came as a shock to his friends and family. A few months before he died, he published a book that tells the bleak and moving tale of the last ten years of his life. The book's title, which translates as "drugs are not worth dying for", more than hints at the subject matter. But this is not another story of drug addiction.

The Czech premiere of Tom Stoppard's recent play Rock 'N' Roll was one of the big literary and social events of the year, attended not just by the playwright himself, but also by many prominent former Czech dissidents. The level of interest was not just because Tom Stoppard is of Czech origin, born in Zlin in 1937, but also because of the very Czech subject matter of the play.

Although she is still only 22, Natalie Kocabova already has two albums to her name as a singer, two collections of poetry and two published works of prose. She also has a young son, Vincent, who is now three years old. It is rare for a writer to be so prolific so young, but Natalie is already well established on the Czech literary scene. She told us more about her life and work.

This edition of Czech Books comes from a café just off the Old Town Square, where I have come to talk to a novelist who has become a phenomenon of the Czech literary scene in the last few years. Petra Hulova shot to fame in the Czech Republic in 2002 when her first novel, Pamet moji babicce (In Memory of My Grandmother) was published. It surprised many by instantly becoming a bestseller, and it has been one of the most successful and most widely read books in this country over the last ten to fifteen years.

Usually in Czech Books we discuss poetry or prose, but for this week's programme we look at an intriguing book that fits neither category. Instead it is a collection of interviews, coming from a part of the Czech Republic that has gone through huge and sometimes traumatic changes over the last sixty or seventy years. I talk with two people who were very closely involved in the book, Matej Spurny and Ondrej Matejka.

We are in the middle of the huge and very modern Novy Smichov shopping complex, one of many that have sprung up in Prague and other Czech cities in recent years. This country's consumer appetite seems insatiable. Around me there are shops selling clothes, electronic goods, fast food and toys, but there are also a couple of big bookshops that seem to be doing a pretty good job of attracting the attention of passing shoppers. In the Czech Republic it seems that the book is alive and well. For the rest of the programme I'm going to be talking to one

This week in Czech Books we are gripped by poetry fever. The Czech Republic is in the middle of an international poetry festival, the "Den poezie" - or Poetry Day. As we'll be finding out, the festival reaches some of most far-flung corners of the Czech Republic; we also explore what makes the "Generation 2000" of young Romanian poets tick, as they bring their work to a Prague audience.