Every year, ‘Words on the Steet’, the European Literature Night event in Dublin, features contemporary European writing from 12 countries read by Irish celebrities at 12 different venues. This year’s event took place on 18 May in the Temple Bar area of Dublin’s city centre.

On 18 May, Irish actor Phelim Drew was at the Gutter Bookshop in Cow’s Lane, Dublin, where he read excerpts from The Fifth Dimension by Martin Vopěnka at regular intervals throughout the evening. The novel was translated by Hana Sklenková and was published in 2015 by Barbican Press. The novel was described by the Financial Times as ‘a weighty and at times challenging read, its themes nothing less than life, death, the universe and love. It’s absorbing, haunting and intellectually engaging throughout, with a gut-punch denouement.‘

Phelim Drew reading excerpts from ‘The Fifth Dimension’

Martin Vopněnka (b. 1963) is a writer, publisher, journalist and traveller. Head of the Association of Czech Booksellers and Publishers, owner of Práh publishing house. He won a Golden Ribbon award for best literature for youth in 2016 for Nová Planeta (New Planet) and was nominated in the same category in 2014 for the last part of his trilogy for young adults, Spící tajemství (Sleeping Secret). His books have been published in English, Romanian, Russian and Arabic.

(Source: Embassy of the Czech Republic in Dublin)