tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31273036454834550242024-02-19T12:50:26.491+00:00Jantar BlogAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098484383434490478noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127303645483455024.post-72434018230597335522016-04-19T08:20:00.003+01:002016-04-19T08:20:50.394+01:00Three Faces of an Angel received another great review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifM8zq98AnWQOAKVp_PYhNXlg1FwY8D70U2HBJVwLUnr5fwFOCrSrdvx7FNDlaUC-a815Ip8__B9lMXwLbGMsy2OhTU0hw2uL6D90Jx4DKVw1VfIxOtZ0uCv0BYe1IwKf79KV4Sj7qLYRc/s1600/Three+Faces+of+an+Angel+ebook-web+cover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifM8zq98AnWQOAKVp_PYhNXlg1FwY8D70U2HBJVwLUnr5fwFOCrSrdvx7FNDlaUC-a815Ip8__B9lMXwLbGMsy2OhTU0hw2uL6D90Jx4DKVw1VfIxOtZ0uCv0BYe1IwKf79KV4Sj7qLYRc/s400/Three+Faces+of+an+Angel+ebook-web+cover.jpg" width="262" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">We love a positive review in the morning. The review in World Literature the <i>Ruritanian Gothic</i> classic Three Faces of an Angel by Jiří Pehe came in out print some months ago but appeared <a href="http://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/2016/march/three-faces-angel-jiri-pehe" target="_blank">only recently online for all to enjoy</a>.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Though
it was lovely to see translator, Gerry Turner, received wonderful
praise for "turning in yet another laudable performance", we're not
convinced he sees himself as a "veteran translator" just yet! </span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098484383434490478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127303645483455024.post-46816347776469342112016-04-19T08:19:00.000+01:002016-04-19T08:19:56.204+01:00New arrivals in the USA - GraveLarks and Bliss was it in Bohemia<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq43pvJQAmj3dioeAlFAl05yjcr0KLBPIiA1dXBD9Pg1wveSVsF3uWeEtFb5yVkAcmQu_wJ6nCGvI63LqgX9xFnTCgnKhyphenhyphen5iaYNhQaN75sC8pDSTYORPOi4gT8Cx3Tln1AG-8rVEhD0Qw/s1600/Bliss+and+GravLarks+on+dispaly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq43pvJQAmj3dioeAlFAl05yjcr0KLBPIiA1dXBD9Pg1wveSVsF3uWeEtFb5yVkAcmQu_wJ6nCGvI63LqgX9xFnTCgnKhyphenhyphen5iaYNhQaN75sC8pDSTYORPOi4gT8Cx3Tln1AG-8rVEhD0Qw/s320/Bliss+and+GravLarks+on+dispaly.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Further evidence of the spread of Jantar's message across the globe comes in the form of the <a href="http://www.dufoureditions.com/Spring16.pdf" target="_blank">Spring Catalogue 2016 </a>of our distributors in the USA and Canada.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Page 5 (Fiction 3) contains the two best "new titles" available....</span></span><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098484383434490478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127303645483455024.post-66431119118342056642016-04-05T22:46:00.000+01:002016-04-05T22:47:30.972+01:00Jantar's Daniela Hodrová wins the Czech Book of the year 2016<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-flJMPxI_GksqnqwWxKvpRDoNO_Rseh_r2kTFRvFh9HhDWrM_0bu3MNGb8NQOol4Mv-KzhTrcX8vZuWSNQUW59zTZ1Fy5ZWHcOg2dFGE9ilIHzd50nyflJm23W8OjdarY_gSJicmzPao/s1600/daniela_hodrovA_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-flJMPxI_GksqnqwWxKvpRDoNO_Rseh_r2kTFRvFh9HhDWrM_0bu3MNGb8NQOol4Mv-KzhTrcX8vZuWSNQUW59zTZ1Fy5ZWHcOg2dFGE9ilIHzd50nyflJm23W8OjdarY_gSJicmzPao/s400/daniela_hodrovA_.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Daniela receiving the award at Prague's National Theatre</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">Congratulations to Daniela Hodrová on
winning "Book of the year 2016" for her tenth novel "Točité věty
[Spiral Sentences]". The award was presented this evening in Prague's
National Theatre. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This novel is based on the lives of translator and poet
Bohumila Grögerová and artist Adriena Šimotová, a
novelisation of their stories and a profound testimony about the
metaphysical anxieties of modern life.</span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098484383434490478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127303645483455024.post-18065631407428501632016-03-30T15:13:00.002+01:002016-03-30T15:22:31.973+01:00Fab Bookshops - Episode Two - LRB Shop <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0O-eMMF2QbLTqgCoKzCrA3AayybhRD97hRtUmGAt6qp3ijMgpOC17jhsKe4aOsU5qViXK2zaKiYW4v7NIX3pyljvHyGeQdmXxjMeWbDGZhdOEJgbrY5bbxZ0utikd0u9x41S8mgQ0WTU/s1600/Bliss+and+GravLarks+on+dispaly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0O-eMMF2QbLTqgCoKzCrA3AayybhRD97hRtUmGAt6qp3ijMgpOC17jhsKe4aOsU5qViXK2zaKiYW4v7NIX3pyljvHyGeQdmXxjMeWbDGZhdOEJgbrY5bbxZ0utikd0u9x41S8mgQ0WTU/s320/Bliss+and+GravLarks+on+dispaly.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jantar titles GraveLarks and Bliss keeping some exulted company in the LRB Shop </td></tr>
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An Eagle-eyed Fojovka (female friend of Jantar) spotted two Jantar books on display this lunchtime at the <a href="http://www.londonreviewbookshop.co.uk/">LRB Shop</a> by the British Museum London. Further investigations revealed A Kingdom of Souls and Three Faces of an Angel had sold out (<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2016/mar/24/reading-europe-dedalus-books-best-european-novels-listed" target="_blank">probably because both featured in The Guardian </a>recently) but fear not, more have been ordered.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKuqXy6khjEGTtMbMJH6MNallVz2_a4-PNcqEVGtfwOiqDrTw0NAcPpMe6cvAeOL_BZDYJj9fkdmj2WtuzNZuhQsgSpHHzRZei9nHzi1ilVWs7CPCCXEBopETBwd8WWyrjH0TlobJe6_0/s1600/LRBB+outside.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKuqXy6khjEGTtMbMJH6MNallVz2_a4-PNcqEVGtfwOiqDrTw0NAcPpMe6cvAeOL_BZDYJj9fkdmj2WtuzNZuhQsgSpHHzRZei9nHzi1ilVWs7CPCCXEBopETBwd8WWyrjH0TlobJe6_0/s320/LRBB+outside.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">London Review Bookshop</td></tr>
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Jantar's titles have been on sale there since 2011 and the guys there have been very supportive of our aims. It has a really lovely cafe next door as well which puts it easily into the category of Fab Bookshops. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098484383434490478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127303645483455024.post-62394664318297167682016-03-08T15:08:00.002+00:002016-03-08T15:14:48.400+00:00Jantar books now on sale in SE London<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDwbhiEKYy-SiQ1GhbBWUVfdEGsgoD1lhke2EeuUN1K1TXJeUa2Kqftpst-nP-VPT9hwMdU0_vtr5GyShqZGdTLW4hldSdLsWYmyd0-_YRvA-eM25UF_Wqz5x2QiX2QscOClj-JPMmScE/s1600/Halcyon+Book+Shelf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDwbhiEKYy-SiQ1GhbBWUVfdEGsgoD1lhke2EeuUN1K1TXJeUa2Kqftpst-nP-VPT9hwMdU0_vtr5GyShqZGdTLW4hldSdLsWYmyd0-_YRvA-eM25UF_Wqz5x2QiX2QscOClj-JPMmScE/s320/Halcyon+Book+Shelf.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="c0">Halcyon Books, 266 Lee High Road, London, SE13 5PL</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098484383434490478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127303645483455024.post-29705509237617829592015-07-27T13:16:00.001+01:002015-07-27T13:26:37.761+01:00Jantar Book Title Competition Results<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaWL7tBIMk7IByzQ36N81b9FsfB3InV71k1-GRlAiXmxCRn7e98ozIu2GfAVHTFNwahEimtTEPlY6tYzHhD_IJ-ShEO-XTKqrAjAcMcbiKqhEcC8wJqxvaxxN1iXwBFq7ZqZcCs41KzBI/s1600/J+transparent+background+red.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="125" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaWL7tBIMk7IByzQ36N81b9FsfB3InV71k1-GRlAiXmxCRn7e98ozIu2GfAVHTFNwahEimtTEPlY6tYzHhD_IJ-ShEO-XTKqrAjAcMcbiKqhEcC8wJqxvaxxN1iXwBFq7ZqZcCs41KzBI/s200/J+transparent+background+red.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">We sifted through just over one hundred entries from Finland, Australia, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, USA, Canada, France and Holland. We were very happy to receive many more entries than we expected and, strangely, many more suggestions for Tonda Bajaja's "Na krásné modré dřevnici" than the more famous "Báječná léta pod psa" by Michal Viewegh. <br />
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As a result, the Jantar team had some very hard decisions to make and decided to take their time. Remember, we were looking for catchy and commercial, not a translation! So, without further ado, the titles chosen are:<br />
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<b>Viewegh: </b><i>Bliss was it in Bohemia.</i> Winner: David Short (yes, inspired by the Wordsworth poem!)<br />
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<b>Bajaja: </b><i>Burying The Season</i>. Winner: Gabriela Oaklandová</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Congratulations to both! </span></span>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098484383434490478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127303645483455024.post-81784986490564561882015-03-14T11:43:00.000+00:002015-03-14T11:43:30.977+00:00Jiří Pehe news and reviews volume 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2oldJDzx5qe0nYRzyi-yaxUouUCCm2T4PBVuo6hg0D1cou93RI5tvgGMjGUEuEKyX5cyTLjVVpJeSiYDK_9jkv5vcRFLb3vkGek-P_OC8PlYdTs7ppDsbGUaycwUi_pGmQmAhEP2iZ_g/s1600/Jiri+smiling+at+KVH+1214.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2oldJDzx5qe0nYRzyi-yaxUouUCCm2T4PBVuo6hg0D1cou93RI5tvgGMjGUEuEKyX5cyTLjVVpJeSiYDK_9jkv5vcRFLb3vkGek-P_OC8PlYdTs7ppDsbGUaycwUi_pGmQmAhEP2iZ_g/s1600/Jiri+smiling+at+KVH+1214.jpg" /></a></div>
Jiří has been busy at various events in Europe since December 2014 and before we launch his book in the USA, we thought we might summarise "the story of the story" so far.....<br />
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We were very proud to be invited to launch the book in Prague on 1 December 2014 at the new home of the Václav Havel Memorial Library and possibly even more proud to have Erik Best moderate a discussion between the author, the translator, Gerald Turner and the publisher, Michael Tate. The discussion was very friendly and laugh out loud funny at times, particularly at the end when members of the audience joined in. The whole event was put on <a href="https://youtu.be/psyv79tB9h4">youtube</a>.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-pAsMgb4mv2VBndUdQqVJjprkDqC84wksYJ5EGri6PXg7_UOgshBM7O9ETzsybIrTsuThWq1agcT0PRLa3bE4m95vuHEE0P42pOxPPLZImuCDkzDQWWTK23EVUiXkIiiMYs8aS8jbUaE/s1600/10416578_892997644078959_8928502423055583682_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-pAsMgb4mv2VBndUdQqVJjprkDqC84wksYJ5EGri6PXg7_UOgshBM7O9ETzsybIrTsuThWq1agcT0PRLa3bE4m95vuHEE0P42pOxPPLZImuCDkzDQWWTK23EVUiXkIiiMYs8aS8jbUaE/s1600/10416578_892997644078959_8928502423055583682_n.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo (c) Knihovna Václava Havla / Vojěch Stádník </td></tr>
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On the following evening, Jiří gave a talk at the UCL School of Slavonic and Easter European Studies with the wonderful title of <i>Illiberal Politics in Central Europe. </i>Then on the evening of 4 December, Jiří spoke at the formal UK launch hosted by His Excellency Michael Žantovský at the Czech Embassy. Peter Zusi from UCL moderated the event which took place in front of another packed audience. The Ambassador was particularly pleased to welcome so many people visiting the embassy for the first time.<br />
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Reviews in English began coming out in February but the only one online, so far, is in <a href="http://www.thejc.com/arts/books/131610/review-three-faces-angel">The Jewish Chronicle</a>. Our favourite quote appears at the end of the review, "amid piquant tableaux of sex, politics and philosophy in our near past,
this ambitious, impressive book does not evade the great questions".<br />
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Also available online is an interview on Radio Prague's <a href="http://radio.cz/en/section/books/jiri-pehe-and-a-novel-that-pits-angels-against-the-isms-of-our-age">Czech Books</a> series conducted by David Vaughan. The piece ends with Jiří saying, "As far as Jantar
Publishing is concerned, I think it’s really great that there is a
publishing house in Great Britain that gives space to authors from Eastern
Europe. So I am really happy.” We're really happy, too.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098484383434490478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127303645483455024.post-34404063092307873182014-10-10T09:40:00.000+01:002014-10-13T18:46:08.067+01:00Dates for one's diary in December<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeTo_QxAS9NQnzngP9xOl9XKLUvpjLResrC05FY4v7WvhdlcDjKPOR1_AsmZdAEv179A3vqvJNs_tdq5dZGhSYkPGCE4Ey8RPrWfPW91ULn3yea2qDFVIU7crD0vzlw1KDynqKf0M4dVc/s1600/Church-of-St-Nicholas-in-the-Lesser-Quarter-57.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeTo_QxAS9NQnzngP9xOl9XKLUvpjLResrC05FY4v7WvhdlcDjKPOR1_AsmZdAEv179A3vqvJNs_tdq5dZGhSYkPGCE4Ey8RPrWfPW91ULn3yea2qDFVIU7crD0vzlw1KDynqKf0M4dVc/s1600/Church-of-St-Nicholas-in-the-Lesser-Quarter-57.jpg" height="221" width="400" /></a></div>
Apologies for the rather gratuitous use of a winter scene with the spires of St Nicholas in the left foreground but we must face facts: winter is on its way but the bleakest days will be lit by some entertaining events in London and Prague. There will be further details and more events announced soon but for those with busy diaries, please take note of the following events:<br />
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1 December: Havel Memorial Library, Prague. 6.30pm<br />
Czech launch of Jiří Pehe's <i>Three Faces of An Angel</i> including a Q+A session with the author<br />
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2 December: UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies, London. 6.30pm<br />
<i>Illiberal Politics in Central Europe</i> a talk followed by a Q+A session with Dr Jiří Pehe<br />
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For a taster, take a spin on <a href="http://www.radio.cz/en/section/panorama/jiri-pehe-anti-establishment-attitudes-and-widespread-disinterest-in-politics-may-have-to-do-with-historic-traumas">http://www.radio.cz/en/section/panorama/jiri-pehe-anti-establishment-attitudes-and-widespread-disinterest-in-politics-may-have-to-do-with-historic-traumas </a><br />
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4 December: Czech Embassy, London. 6.30pm.<br />
UK launch of Jiří Pehe's <i>Three Faces of An Angel</i> including a Q+A session with the authorAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098484383434490478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127303645483455024.post-63690571372693119202014-09-24T19:59:00.000+01:002014-10-13T18:47:01.907+01:00Fab Bookshops - Episode One - Daunt Travel Books in Marlebone High Street<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As promised last week, I took a picture taking machine to possibly the coolest Bookshop in Marlebone High Street to check on our books and "help" with the merchandising..........<br />
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Daunt Travel Books is famous for displaying its books by country rather than by author and our books can be found along the left hand wall in the enormous "Europe Room" on the ground floor. (Everywhere else in the world is found in the basement).<br />
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Franz Kafka prize winning book, <i>Prague, I See A City</i> is to be found in the Central European section.<br />
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Daniela's book is in good company.<br />
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.....and so is <i>Kytice</i>....though to the left of the volume is an awful picture of Ivan Klíma which for some reason reminds me of Zdena Salivarová in the 1970s though she was blonde in those days....yes, moving on.....<br />
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If you were wondering whether the area was posh enough for you, please fear not....there is a Waitrose nearby with its own clock.....rah rah....<br />
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Phew!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098484383434490478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127303645483455024.post-7285381571819620222014-09-17T17:54:00.001+01:002014-09-24T20:11:11.252+01:00"Kytice" and "Prague I See A City" available in Daunt Books - tell all your friends....Our new bestest friends, <a href="http://www.dauntbooks.co.uk/">Daunt Books</a>, have taken delivery of their first consignment of the Jantar titles <i>Kytice </i>and <i>Prague, I See A City.</i><br />
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I forgot to take a camera to record the historic event and just after I left the shop, I bumped into<a href="http://www.dokweb.net/en/documentary-network/east-european-docs/-snow-fields-of-ivan-hartl-3249/"> Ivan Hartl.</a> We laughed about the unpredictability of the cosmos, then decided to have a coffee and ended up talking poetry, art and revolution for two hours. He had a video camera with him but instead of returning to Daunt Books, he decided to film me explaining the power of Water-goblins.<br />
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I promise to go back and take a photo soon.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098484383434490478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127303645483455024.post-82343191222044515572014-09-10T21:47:00.003+01:002014-09-10T21:47:30.366+01:00Two new booksWe collected our corporate breath back in the Spring and spent the summer editing and designing covers and thus are pleased to announce that we will be publishing two new books later this year.<br />
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Those books being:<br />
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Three Faces of an Angel by Jiří Pehe;<br />
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and,<br />
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GraveLarks by Jan Křesadlo.<br />
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More news to follow.....Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098484383434490478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127303645483455024.post-40057444516478466612014-09-10T21:47:00.001+01:002014-09-10T21:47:16.719+01:00So in 2013 we stared again.....So in 2013, we decided to publish JK Erben's poetry collection, Kytice, and were reminded how long it takes to get a book published according to our principles which are:<br />
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Excellent Text<br />
Excellent Translation<br />
Excellent introduction<br />
Excellent artwork<br />
Beautiful Book<br />
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It took over a year to publish Kytice but by the time it was launched in December, we had a further 20 books in various stages of progress. We were not ready for the huge and positive reaction the book received (please read the Kytice story on the blog) and again, we were reminded that publishing a good book is a good idea...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098484383434490478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127303645483455024.post-60295967853922919172014-09-10T21:46:00.001+01:002014-09-17T17:35:49.136+01:00we're still here.....but in 2012.....Instead of pushing on after launching Daniela's "Prague, I See A City" and Michal M's "Angel-maker", Jantar took a rest and had a think about what to do next.<br />
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Worse, we did nothing to capitalise on Daniela's success winning the <a href="http://literatureintranslation.about.com/od/LitAwards/p/KafkaPrize.htm">Franz Kafka Prize</a> that year!<br />
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However, we carried on thinking and decided that <a href="http://literalab.com/2012/05/25/franz-kafka-prize-goes-to-czech-writer-daniela-hodrova/">Daniela's success</a> did reveal to us that publishing books you would like others to enjoy reading in English is a good idea, so we carried on but slowly in 2013....Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098484383434490478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127303645483455024.post-37155874774157200762014-09-07T14:35:00.001+01:002014-09-28T13:31:03.001+01:00Kytice - post modern fairy story staring our heroine, SusanI think the story of Jantar's edition of K. J. Erben's Kytice is well worth telling. It is a story of determination, tenacity, bravery and everyone lives happily ever after.... so here it is....<br />
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A long, long time ago in a town far, far away a<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karel_Jarom%C3%ADr_Erben"> very clever man </a>composed a cycle of poems based on traditional stories that he had spent years collecting in the Czech countryside and the Slavonic folklore he had been studying. He first published these poems in 1853. This came after a three volume work containing 150 folk songs. He was, after all, what amounted to be one of the first Czech cultural historians and a lot more besides. Also, to be consistent with this narrative, let's remember he was determined, tenacious and brave. <br />
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Closer to home, Susan first began translating the poems that make up the collection, Kytice, in 2002. Some of them are very long and others maybe not so long but certainly "difficult". However, she did have the music of Dvořák and many friends to help her along the way. The Water-goblins also helped.<br />
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Drafts had been passed around just about everyone involved in teaching, studying and even publishing Czech literature by 2004. Susan's rendering of the poems nearly got published that year and in anticipation, she took part in an interview and reading for <a href="http://www.radio.cz/en/section/books/karel-jaromir-erben-one-of-the-greatest-of-all-czech-poets-now-at-last-in-english-translation">Radio Prague's "Czech Books" </a>programme.<br />
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The proposed publishing deal fell through and Susan got on with her life. Being brave and determined, she continued working at the British Library and translating Danish and Norwegian plays, French and German poetry and opera librettos into English. (I have skipped a huge amount here....her bibliography is very impressive).<br />
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Many years later, Susan's rendering of the poems came to the attention of Jantar when she read a few at the Czech and Slovak Literary Seminar at <a href="http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ssees/">UCL SSEES</a>. Sitting mesmorised (along with everyone else, she is a very good reader) in that gathering was the author of this blog and Jantar CEO, Mike. He was too bedazzled to contemplate publishing the poems. Actually, he thought they had already been published but didn't check his understanding till much later.<br />
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Fast forward to a dark and windy night in London on 12 December 2013. Susan hobbled bravely to the launch party at UCL SSEES with the aid of a crutch and two helpers (she had hurt her ankle) and bags of cakes. Jantar supplied lots of wine, <a href="http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ssees/people/languages-culture-eastern-europe-folder/peter-zusi">Peter Zusi</a>, provided a wonderful introduction and then Susan stood up with her crutch and read a few of the shorter poems. She was amazing....many people took photos of the evening that were posted onto <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.781132338570578.1073741828.229468010403683&type=1">our facebook page.</a><br />
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Jantar sold most of the copies we brought but the news just got better. The following morning, <a href="http://www.blisty.cz/">Britské Listy</a> published an excellent review and then guided its many (and mostly) Czech readers to the Shakespeare a Synove bookshop in Prague. The shop then reported a queue of people outside waiting for it to open. They kept selling so many copies that we were unable to supply any other shops in the country. As a result, Kytice was top of their best seller list at Christmas and well into 2014.<br />
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In most stories, the narrative ends there with everyone living happily ever after because amazing poetry brought peace to the people of London but while that is true, more was to follow, the poetry then took on a life of its own.....read on...<br />
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In January 2014, Susan appeared on <a href="http://www.radio.cz/en/section/books/susan-reynolds-and-the-music-of-karel-jaromir-erbens-poetry">Radio Prague's Czech Books programme</a> again. This time speaking about the influence <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeL6hKecd0E">Dvořák's tone poems</a> on her translations. Then in February, Susan was invited to give a reading and ask questions at an event organised by the <a href="http://www.bcsa.co.uk/">BCSA</a> held at the Czech Embassy in London. Once again, Susan's performance was so incredible that she was asked to perform an encore (!) of The Water-goblin (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIthgdoWeAA">Hugh caught this on camera)</a>.<br />
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At the end of February, Kytice was reviewed in the Times Literary Supplement (TLS). Then in the middle of March, one of our friends noticed that Kytice was number 43 in the best selling poetry list on Amazon USA and asked "why?". </div>
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At first we thought that it was due the TLS review and then another friend sent a link to the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/16/books/review/helen-oyeyemi-by-the-book.html?_r=0">weekend review section of the New York Times</a>.....Helen Oyeyemi, an up and coming author had been offering her views on life and literature....and the answer to the question,<b> "What was the last truly great book you read?" </b>was <i>"Susan
Reynolds’s translation of “Kytice” (“Bouquet”), Karel Erben’s classic
cycle of Czech folk tales in verse. I don’t really know how to describe
these stories, except that most of them are profoundly strange, with
outcomes that you shrink from rather than anticipate, and so you simply
pause from time to time to make peace with your goose bumps. The very
particular rhythm of the verse contributes to its effect, which makes
the translation all the more impressive."</i></div>
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Meanwhile, in Prague, word was spreading about Susan's marvelous
translation.The organisers of the Prague Book Fair invited Susan to read at the fair and offered Jantar its
own stand. <i> </i></div>
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To celebrate the success of the book so far, our invitation to the Prague Book Fair, and the fact that we kept selling out copies of Kytice printed in small print runs, we decided to publish a special limited edition "Czech edition" of the collection in a hardback format. The book was printed by the wonderful team at <a href="http://www.protiskcb.cz/home/">Tiskárna Protisk</a> in České Budějovice.<br />
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Further invitations followed and Susan ended up giving five readings and being interviewed twice on Czech TV in the space of a few days in May.<br />
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Now the book is stocked by ore shops in the Czech Republic, some specially selected shops in the UK is available to all on amazon....<br />
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We all continue to live happily ever after because we know the Water-goblins are on our side...<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098484383434490478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127303645483455024.post-80264437508098371622011-12-27T12:48:00.000+00:002013-05-17T14:13:49.683+01:00Reviews for Angel-maker For a variety of opinions... see:<br />
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<a href="http://www.praguepost.com/night-and-day/books/10702-book-review-the-angel-maker-by-michal-mares.html">Prague Post</a><br />
<a href="http://www.utoronto.ca/tsq/38/tsq38_rogatchevski.pdf">The Toronto Slavic Quarterly</a><br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098484383434490478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127303645483455024.post-39810400334368568212011-12-27T12:42:00.000+00:002013-05-17T14:14:05.416+01:00Reviews for Prague...I See A CityReviews for Daniela's book are collected below:<br />
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<a href="http://www.praguepost.com/night-and-day/books/10414-book-review-prague-i-see-a-city*.html">Prague Post</a> includes a little piece on Jantar as well!<br />
<a href="http://czechfocus.cz/art/59080.html">Czech Focus</a> includes something on Jantar as well... (<a href="http://www.blisty.cz/art/59079.html">in Czech</a>)<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098484383434490478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127303645483455024.post-40082028000277619082011-07-11T21:04:00.000+01:002013-03-24T16:56:30.211+00:00The subtle art of PR (we're getting there)A quick update following our launch do at SSEES. Well, we got a mention on <a href="http://www.blisty.cz/art/59079.html">Britské listy</a> which was kind of them. Our launch even made it to the <a href="http://www.ssees.ucl.ac.uk/news.htm#jantar">SSEES website</a> but easily the biggest PR coup was the feature in Hugh Muir's regular Guardian column, <i>Hideously Diverse Britain</i> with the rather winning headline of <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jun/28/eastern-european-books"><i>Return of The East Europeans</i></a>.<br />
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Quite how Hugh got to write that piece is quite a funny story. It all started with an email featuring some <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/8571092/One-per-cent-of-entire-Slovakian-population-living-in-Britain.html">random bit of unchallenged puff about Andrew Green in the Daily Telegraph</a>. That kind of nonsense lead to an extended phone call followed by a coffee not too far away from my favourite Park and a week later, there is was, in print and online.<br />
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All we need now is a review of two and we can call our first PR initiative a success....<br />
Mike<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098484383434490478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127303645483455024.post-10044918916837916542011-06-25T07:36:00.000+01:002013-05-18T13:34:10.528+01:00Jantar Launches Its First Two Books<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The first Jantar Publishing launch event was held in the Masaryk Senior Common Room at University College London School of Slavonic and East European Studies, 16 June 2011.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098484383434490478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3127303645483455024.post-72369147854455401392011-01-05T11:37:00.000+00:002013-03-24T16:09:35.828+00:00Welcome to 2011<div id="text">
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<span style="text-align: justify;">Jantar</span><span style="text-align: justify;"> publishes high quality English translations of literature written in the languages of Central and East Europe. Accompanying each text is an introduction written by an academic or critic that aims to explain the wider cultural context for the benefit of non-specialist readers. </span></div>
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The name <i>jantar</i> (pronounced yan-tarr) is the Czech and Slovak for ‘amber’. However, it was consciously borrowed in the nineteenth century, that is, during the Czech National Revival, from the Russian yantàr’ (shared also with Ukrainian). This in turn is believed to have been borrowed earlier in history from a local dialect form of the Lithuanian word giñtaras. (Lithuania is, remember, the major source of amber in Europe and a neighbour of Russia.) The word’s ultimate origin is uncertain, but it is thought to be of Finno-Ugrian origin, as attested by the Hungarian gyánta ‘resin, amber’. </div>
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This geographical spread goes rather well with our aspiration to publish a variety of Central and East European works of literature that are in their way ‘trapped in amber’ and awaiting discovery. <br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098484383434490478noreply@blogger.com0