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.
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| 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.
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