Prose

Jan Novák, a prominent Czech writer and Magnesia Litera Award laureate, assembles various pieces of writing inspired by Chicago, a tough city with sweltering summers and Arctic winters whose rough charm has profoundly chimed with Novák. Utilising a novel language, interspersed with Czech emigré vernacular, he portrays “small life in a big city” – ordinary people with their extraordinary experiences. Aside from brand new short stories and previously unpublished essays, the collection also encompasses Novák’s reworked debut Striptýz Chicago (Striptease Chicago) first published by the Toronto-based 68 publishers owned by the Škvorecký couple.