Czech Books | All stories

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.

This week we look at a very fruitful literary friendship between one of the best known contemporary Czech poets, Petr Borkovec, and the Prague-based Irish poet, Justin Quinn. Not only are they good friends but they have also worked closely together, with Justin translating a great deal of Petr's work. They may come from different ends of Europe and diverse literary traditions, but in many ways the two poets are kindred spirits. Justin Quinn joins me in the studio.

If you listen to Radio Prague regularly you will probably be familiar with the political scientist and academic Jiri Pehe, who has written widely on political developments in the Czech Republic over recent years and is often interviewed on our programme. You may also remember that for several years in the second half of the 1990s he was an advisor to President Vaclav Havel. It is also quite possible that you will have come across some of his essays on Czech literature. But it will probably be as much a surprise to you as it was to me that Jiri Pehe

When I was in London this summer, I found myself with some time to spare, waiting for a train at Liverpool Street Station. I made a point of going out to the small open space on the south side of the station, known as Hope Square. Here you will find a plaque and a monument to remember the children of the Kindertransports.