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Welcome again to the world of Czech writing, with Czech books. Prague is a city of legend - its origins are steeped in mediaeval mythology - and even the river Vltava is said to be frequented by mysterious and malicious water-sprites. And it's not just Prague. The Czech countryside is rich in folk legend, and the mysteries of this country's past have inspired Czech writers through the generations.

This week we're going to be looking at a very special area of Czech writing, children's literature. I'm delighted to have with me in the studio Monika Voskova, who is a translator of - amongst other writers - Muriel Spark, J.M.Coetzee, and in children's literature Paul Zindel and Judy Bloom. She also teaches in the English Department of the Charles University's Pedagogical Faculty, where she specializes in children's literature. And the book we'll be discussing specially is "Fairytales" by Karel and Josef Capek, which exists in an English version

Welcome again to Czech Books. Now every little boy feels a frisson of excitement as he watches a train thundering past or disappearing into a tunnel, but by the time we hit 30 most of us have become pretty blasé about such things. Not so the Czech writer Jaroslav Rudis. His writing reflects a positive obsession with trains, and even the famously unsuccessful punk band he plays in has the unlikely name of U-Bahn, named after the Berlin underground railway. In fact the Berlin U-Bahn was the hero of Jaroslav Rudis's highly successful first novel,

Once again a very warm welcome to Czech Books. Now if somebody asks you about Romany or "Gypsy" culture in Central Europe you'll most probably think first and foremost of music. But in the Czech Republic and Slovakia today there is also a growing tradition of Romany writing. That's the subject of today's Czech Books. A few days ago, my colleague Bernie Higgins went to meet Milena Hubschmannova, who teaches Romany studies at Prague's Charles University and the Romani language, still spoken by many of Central Europe's Roma. Dr Hubschmannova has been

Welcome to Czech books and today we're going to be meeting Hana Andronikova, a young Czech writer whose name has recently been buzzing around Czech literary circles. Two years ago her debut novel, "Zvuk slunecnich hodin" (The Sound of the Sundial) was published to huge critical acclaim. It tells the story of the Keppler family from Zlin - Hana's own hometown that was built from nothing in the 1920s around the famous Bata shoe factory. The story is panoramic, moving in time and place from Zlin to India, Colorado and Auschwitz - a twentieth century

George Eliot - the pseudonym of the great 19th English century novelist, Marian Evans - is best known for her novels of rural England, so you may be wondering why I mention her here on Radio Prague. The answer is quite simple. One of her most dramatic narratives, The Lifted Veil, has a direct link with the ancient city of Prague. In 1858, at a time when few English people visited this part of Central Europe, Eliot, then in her late 30s, spent a few days in the city on her way to Dresden. Prague made an instant impression, as she wrote in her journal

In the last programme I spoke to Bernie Higgins, one of Czech Books' regular presenters about her favourite Czech writing. Today it's the turn of another regular presenter of Czech Books, Pavla Jonssonova and we'll be talking about some of the Czech writing that has inspired her over the years.

Hello and a very warm welcome to another edition of Czech Books. Over the last weeks you'll have got used in this programme to hearing the voice of Bernie Higgins. Today Bernie's on the other side of the microphone. She joins me in the studio to talk about some of her favourite Czech books.

Hello and welcome to Czech Books. This week I'm talking to Eva Hauserova, who is a household name in the Czech Republic because she's regularly on radio and television, speaking on a range of issues. She's well known as a feminist, which we'll talk more about in a little while. Eva's the author of a number of books: novels, short stories, collections of journalism. She's also a talented cartoonist. I'd like to start off our discussion talking about her work.

Hello and welcome to Czech Books. And this week I have with me Kristin Olson, who is a literary agent, and is going to talk about the Czech book market in relation to the English books that are popular here. First I'd like to ask you why you came and why you decided to set up a literary agency?