Czechs Today | All stories

Iva Prochazkova is one of the Czech Republic's most respected authors of children's books and novels for young adults, a writer who spent much of her career in Austria and Germany before returning to the Czech Republic in the 1990s. The author, recognised both in the Czech Republic as well as abroad, learned last month she would receive this year's Friedrich Gerstacker Award, Germany's oldest prize for youth literature. She receives the prize for her book Tanec Trosecniku (translatable as Dance of the Castaways or Castaways' Dance), a fantastical

Contemporary painter and rector of Prague's Academy of Fine Arts Jiri Sopko is one of the most respected artists in the Czech Republic. He first drew attention to his work in the 1960s and has continued to have a prominent and lasting impact. Last week a retrospective of some of Sopko's best but also lesser-known work opened at Prague's Rudolfinum Gallery.

On this day (20/6/1976) thirty one years ago, Czech footballer Antonin Panenka wrote himself into football history books by scoring the decisive goal for Czechoslovakia in a penalty shoot-out after the final of the European Cup of Nations against West Germany ended in a draw. This goal was undoubtedly one of the greatest moments in Czech sporting history and it made Panenka a household name. In this edition of Czechs Today, we look at the career of this great footballer and recall his stunning penalty kick, which sealed Czechoslovakia's only ever

This week, we speak to Jana Horakova-Kansky, daughter of one of Czechoslovakia's best known victims of Communist-era oppression, the democratic MP and wartime resistance hero Milada Horakova. Jana, Milada Horakova's only child, was just a teenager when her mother was executed on trumped up charges of treason and espionage in a 1950 show trial. Her father - who was also targeted by the Communist regime - made a daring escape from Czechoslovakia shortly afterwards, leaving Jana in the care of relatives. For years she was denied the opportunity to

Many listeners will probably have heard of the famous Iditarod sled dog race run in Alaska since the 1970s, recalling images of huskies pulling mushers across the frozen wastes. But they may be less familiar with the Iditarod Trail Invitational, a similar adventure race in which roughly 1,800 kilometres are crossed not using sled dogs but by going on foot, using cross-country skis, or mountain bikes. This year the mountain bike category was won by Czech rider Jan Kopka, a former road racer turned mountain biker with a passion for the extreme. At

If you have seen Jan Hrebejk's latest film "Beauty in Trouble", you would have heard several songs on its soundtrack by Glen Hansard from Irish group The Frames and Czech vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Marketa Irglova. Last year, this duo's critically acclaimed LP The Swell Season debuted in the Irish album charts at number five and was to remain in the top thirty there for several weeks. Although Glen Hansard is no stranger to such success having been a well known figure on the Irish and international music scenes since the early 1990s with

The Skrivanek translation agency is one of the biggest providers of language services in Central and Eastern Europe. This Czech-owned multinational firm looks a lot different today than it did when the company owner and founder Pavel Skrivanek established a small translation service fifteen years ago.

Jiri Menzel's new film I Served the King of England, an adaptation of Bohumil Hrabal's classic novel of the same name, is proving hugely successful among Czech filmgoers. Many people, however, have been particularly captivated by the wonderful score, created by the Czech film composer Ales Brezina. In this week's edition of Czechs Today, Rob Cameron speaks to Ales at the offices of the Martinu Institute, the organisation he's built up virtually from scratch since 1995.

Ivan Kral is perhaps the only Czech to have left his mark on the history of rock music. He was in an early incarnation of Blondie, worked with the great Patti Smith for a number of years and played guitar with Iggy Pop. His songs have been covered by such giants as U2 and David Bowie. In this special programme, Ivan Kral looks back over his career in music, but also reflects on his boyhood in Prague, moving to the US with his family and much more besides.

One of the most distinctive young voices in Czech filmmaking celebrates her 30th birthday in two weeks: documentarian Erika Hnikova. This autumn she brought out her second cinematic release, "I Guess We'll Meet at Eurocamp".