New centre for Czech literature in Prague

Diplomat, translator and journalist, Petr Janyška, was chosen as the director of the České literární centrum (Czech Literary Centre).

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Petr Janyška

Petr Janyška

The Czech Literary Centre was officially established on 1st January 2017 and will be managed by the Moravian Library . Its activities will include presenting Czech literature and authors at book fairs and other international events, organising residencies in the Czech Republic for translators of Czech literature, running the CzechLit website and holding author readings and exhibitions in Prague. More specific information about the Centre’s projects will be known in the coming months.

The director of the Centre, Petr Janyška (1953), worked as a translator and interpreter from English and French until 1989. He has translated books, screenplays, technical texts and opera librettos. After 1990, Janyška became the deputy editor-in-chief of the Respekt magazine, which he also co-founded. He continued his journalistic career as the deputy editor-in-chief of Lidové noviny. From 1999-2003, Janyška was the Czech Ambassador to France and in 2006 he became an ambassador and permanent delegate to UNESCO. Since 2012, he has been the director of the Czech Centre in Warsaw.

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