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Earlier this month, literatis in this country and all over the world marked the 130th anniversary of one of the most famous Prague writers – Franz Kafka. Outside of the Czech Republic this was a chance to take another look at one of the best known writers of the 20th century, but locally the occasion brought to the fore the unresolved relationship that this country, and particularly the capital, has with the German-speaking Jewish author.

In today’s edition of the Arts we meet American scholar Kathi Diamant, who has spent years researching and writing about her namesake – Dora Diamant. Dora was a Polish émigré living in Berlin when she met Czech writer Franz Kafka for the first time in 1923. She became the great novelist’s last lover – spending the final eleven months of his life with him in a shared Berlin flat. Kathi Diamant has just written a book about Dora, titled ‘Kafka’s Last Love’. She spoke to Radio Prague’s Anna Kubišta about how she originally became interested in the

Today in Mailbox: Presidential elections in the US, elections in the Czech Republic, answers to last month's quiz question, a brand new question for the coming month. Listeners quoted: Charles Konecny, Chun-quan Meng, Xiu-Ping Qian, Hans Verner Lollike, Jaroslaw Jedrzejczak, Ian Morrison.

Preparations are being made to recover what is being dubbed a part of the lost literary heritage of Prague and the Czech Republic. These are some of the many letters written by world renowned author Franz Kafka of which almost no examples are left in his homeland.

The Prague-based Franz Kafka Association has called on the Ministry of Culture and other personalities not to miss the chance of buying letters written by the author when they come up in auction in April. Around 100 examples of letters and other correspondence between the Czech-born writer in German and his sister, Ottla, are due to be auctioned in Berlin. The society points out that apart from a few official documents, there are no documents in Franz Kaftka’s hand in the Czech Republic. The correspondence up for auction is expected to command a price of around 500,000 euros. Ottla, the youngest of Kafka’s sisters was also the family member he felt closest to. She perished in the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz in 1942.

In this week’s edition of Panorama: a taste of country life in Prague – city hall organizes a pig slaughtering feast on Náměstí Míru. The Czech capital boasts a unique and costly enterprise -a bridge leading from nowhere to nowhere, and the European Yo Yo Championship raises the roof at Prague’s Archa Theatre.

A legal battle centred on the legacy of Prague-born writer Franz Kafka took a new turn this week with manuscripts and other material locked away in Swiss bank vaults being opened up for expert examination. The move should help determine whether a literary treasure trove has been kept hidden away for decades and could help to make it public.

Sunday marks the 85th anniversary of the publishing of Franz Kafka’s internationally acclaimed novel “The Trial”. The first edition was published by the Berlin publishing house Die Schmiede, a year after the author’s death. Kafka never finished the novel, but the fragment was preserved by fellow writer Max Brod. Franz Kafka, who was born in Prague in 1883, started writing “The Trial” at the beginning of World War I. The novel follows protagonist Josef K., who is not aware of having committed a crime yet finds himself the subject of a court trial. He unsuccessfully attempts to find out what he is charged with, and is eventually sentenced to death.

Literature sometimes makes for some unusual connections. What, for example, could Franz Kafka possibly have in common with the Orkney Islands off the north coast of Scotland? To find the answer we start at the busy British Council office, just a couple of streets down from Czech Radio’s headquarters. Just after World War II, the British Council here was headed by Edwin Muir, who was born in 1887 in Orkney and grew up on the tiny island of Wyre. He is one of Scotland’s best known 20th century poets, but it is also quite possible that you will have

In this week’s edition of One on One we talk to the artist, sculptor, painter, musician and actor Jaroslav Róna. In the 1980s, he was one of the founders of the art group Tvrdohlaví, or The Stubborn but today, he is perhaps best known as the author of the Franz Kafka Monument in Prague’s Old Town. I talked to Jaroslav Róna in his studio and asked him was why he decided to base the highly acclaimed Kafka memorial on his short story, Description of One Struggle.