Three Faces of an Angel received another great review

We love a positive review in the morning. The review in World Literature the Ruritanian Gothic classic Three Faces of an Angel by Jiří Pehe came in out print some months ago but appeared only recently online for all to enjoy.

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!

New arrivals in the USA - GraveLarks and Bliss was it in Bohemia

Further evidence of the spread of Jantar's message across the globe comes in the form of the Spring Catalogue 2016 of our distributors in the USA and Canada.

Page 5 (Fiction 3) contains the two best "new titles" available....

Jantar's Daniela Hodrová wins the Czech Book of the year 2016

Daniela receiving the award at Prague's National Theatre

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.

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.

Fab Bookshops - Episode Two - LRB Shop

Jantar titles GraveLarks and Bliss keeping some exulted company in the LRB Shop

An Eagle-eyed Fojovka (female friend of Jantar) spotted two Jantar books on display this lunchtime at the LRB Shop by the British Museum London. Further investigations revealed A Kingdom of Souls and Three Faces of an Angel had sold out (probably because both featured in The Guardian recently) but fear not, more have been ordered.

London Review Bookshop

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.

Jantar books now on sale in SE London

Halcyon Books, 266 Lee High Road, London, SE13 5PL

Jantar Book Title Competition Results

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.

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:

Viewegh: Bliss was it in Bohemia. Winner: David Short (yes, inspired by the Wordsworth poem!)

Bajaja: Burying The Season. Winner: Gabriela Oaklandová

Congratulations to both! 

Jiří Pehe news and reviews volume 1

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.....

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 youtube.

Photo (c) Knihovna Václava Havla / Vojěch Stádník

 On the following evening, Jiří gave a talk at the UCL School of Slavonic and Easter European Studies with the wonderful title of Illiberal Politics in Central Europe. 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.

Reviews in English began coming out in February but the only one online, so far, is in The Jewish Chronicle. 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".

Also available online is an interview on Radio Prague's Czech Books 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.