Poetry of love and passion for language, a desire to understand it and an attempt to show how language holds us with its power.

The starting point of this collection consists of two of the most common types of lyric poetry which are deeply rooted in the literary tradition – love and nature. But it is only a floor plan, so to speak, because motifs and themes are not the main thing in this collection, the main thing is the language itself and its infinite possibilities. Olga Stehlíková shows how through words and linguistic expression we relate to events, situations, people and things…

This collection is not a linguistic laboratory where sterile experiments take place; but on the contrary, it is a set of poems behind which we always feel an authentic experience, a real life story that finally took the form of a text and ended up on paper. The author does not tell the stories of the characters or even her own stories, but she tells the story of a language that has to go through so many different situations while always serving the purposes that are given to it from the outside. In Olga Stehlíková’s poems, it is as if one could breathe out for a moment, take a break and express oneself, showing complicity in what we call reality and what we usually consider as an objective fact – but half of it is actually linguistic.

The bleak and uncompromising novel by a mysterious author who writes in secret.

The Valkyries is made up of two short stories – “Den skoro jako každý jiný” (A Day Almost Like Any Other) and “Černé slunce” (Black Sun) – which focus on the main character’s journey of revenge on his Valkyrie. Readers find themselves in a human world destined to perish, whose society is collapsing – in this case in the ruins of Prague. A group of survivors gather there, though one of them is killed. The main character, who has a military background, sets out after the murderer. In this novel, as is characteristic of the author, he “does not mince his words” – it is bleak, full of action and uncompromising in the way readers enjoy.

A comics portrait of one of the founders of Czechoslovakia favouring playfulness and complexity over the trivialization of textbooks.

The factually based story of one of the founders of an independent Czechoslovakia – the general, aviator and passionate astronomer Milan Rastislav Štefánik – provides the basis for the eponymous graphic novel by the artist Václav Šlajch and the writers Gabriela Kyselová and Michal Baláž. However, instead of a predictable, eulogizing memorial, the reader is presented with a remarkable work about the folly of attempting such clear-cut interpretations. It is a playful and somewhat provocative graphic novel showing that even the greatest heroes can be insufferable in many respects, and that no one who truly lived can be reduced to a glossy image on a poster. The comics version of Štefánik has the power to speak to readers already familiar with the figures being depicted as well as those hearing about them for the first time. Through its scope, its persuasiveness, its sophisticated composition and excellent artwork, it is able to speak to anyone who is prepared to listen.

About the authors:

Gabriela Kyselová (1981) is a scriptwriter and artist. She has worked on several independent educational art projects, mainly for internet apps. She collaborated on the film Cesta do nemožna (The Impossible Voyage, 2019). She has recently been working on Medikomiks, a series of educational comic books for children about serious illnesses. She also works as a screenwriter for children’s animations at the Tobogang film company. She lives in Prague.

Michal Baláž (1986) is a scriptwriter, director, playwright and novelist. His first book to be published was the poetry collection Ø (2016). He made his debut as a screenwriter and director with the TV docudrama True Štúr (2015) a mix of animation and live action, and as a playwright with the staging of Domov (Home, 2018). His second book, a collection of short works of prose and miniature dramas, Orgány & Drámy (Organs & Dramas), was published in 2018. He also writes his own music and lyrics. He lives in Bratislava.

Václav Šlajch (1980) is a comics artist, educator and illustrator. He is part of the “new wave” of Czech comics known as Generation Zero, which began to make a name for itself around 2000. He has been teaching at the Ladislav Sutnar Faculty of Art and Design in Plzeň since 2013. He illustrates books and magazines. He has contributed to comics such as Ještě jsme ve válce (We Are Still at War, 2011), Superhrdinové z východního bloku (Superheroes from the Eastern Bloc, 2015) and Rychlé šípy a jejich úžasná nová dobrodružství (The Rapid Arrows and their Amazing New Adventures, 2018). He is the winner of the 2010 Muriel Award for best short comics. He is a fan of comics by Daniel Clowes, cactuses and films by the Coen brothers.

What do the great crises of the contemporary world—of which there have been so many, yet which we try not to see—do to us? Kauer’s poetry confronts multiple crises without surrendering to despair.

The poet and visual artist Aleš Kauer has published new poems accompanied by his own illustrations. “How do we grasp this beast / when our words are weaker / than the bones of children under the rubble?” In these extraordinarily expressive poems, we read an indictment of a world in which patriarchal order inexplicably persists and violence against both people and nature reaches its peak. Do we even have the words to describe all these horrors? In his exploration, the poet works with diverse linguistic registers, cultural references and digital symbol codes, switching between Czech, Slovak, English and Ukrainian. The book stands out for its carefully thought- out composition and tightly unified form. In a fractured world, Aleš Kauer invokes social justice, love and compassion. His poetry is radically anti-war, feminist, and, above all, empathetic.

A novel inspired by the author’s stays in China

The same decisive expression “hours of lead” will determine the fate of several families of different generations from various European countries and backgrounds. A Czech business man, his wife and teenage daughter, a Russian diplomat, a French writer, a student of calligraphy, a chef and many other protagonists with their family traumas, midlife crisis, burnouts and puberty. Pilgrims and travelers who have gone to China to sort out their lives, yet their world continues falling apart. They loose something irreversibly and they can not understand what it is. Looking for a solid point in their past life, yet unable to know what to recall.

As in their private stories, there is a dramatic break, something essential is coming undone and changing the fate of us all. The old world of Europe is over and no one understands what is in store. As every character in the novel experiences their marginal situaltion as an existential and personal nemesis, we also live the “leaden hour” toghether. People are retreating themselves and the era of resigned apathy and demoralization begins, the era of everyday gray totalitarian consumerism. Yet there is still a chance to act. You just need to read and follow the signs.

A slender book with two beginnings, offering a dual variation of the same story, which refers to the cycle of life. The dominant illustrations and restrained use of text convey a message for readers of any age.

This charming little book is full of surprises: it has the unusually small format of a pocket diary, and the reader soon finds that it is a double book: the story can be read from both ends, which meet in the middle on a folded, double-sided page with a panoramic illustration. One part of the story tells the tale of an elderberry seed that dropped from the beak of a white fledgling bird, while the other part depicts the adventures of the bird itself. The narrative gently portrays the passage of time and the cycle of life, encourages readers to be observant, and highlights the role of random chance in our world. The text is brief: no more than four lines of simple sentences in capital letters are concentrated on the lower half of the page. The book is characterised by a stylistic purity, which is emphasised by the composition, colour and technique of Klára Zahrádková’s illustrations. The images cleverly underpin the story’s details; readers big and small will love coming back to this book again and again.

Age: 7+

Based on real events, this bestselling novel has the pace and drama of a gripping film.

This novel contains two storylines that take place on two different spatial-temporal planes. In a small Czech village, nine-year-old Mira’s family succumbs to an outbreak of typhus in the 1950s. She ends up in the hands of her strange aunt Hana, with whom Mira spends the whole of her childhood and adolescence. Later on, she discovers hidden facts about Hana’s past and the tragic story of Mira’s own family, which is revealed to be Jewish. The second storyline of the novel is from World War II and shares Hana’s story. It takes place in Auschwitz and Theresienstadt, and explores the guilt motif that Hana felt over the death of her parents. A page-turner, Hana is narrated in a traditional manner, with skilled realism, a flair for dramatic rhythm and composition, and with a deep knowledge about the time and circumstances of the story. As the novel comes to an end, there is a spark of hope, tinged by the belief that you cannot rid yourself of your family’s past and, indeed, of your fate.

In this tragicomic graphic novel, the protagonist wanders the streets of Rome and Prague in the company of football fans and the occasional love-interest.

This ambitious and at the same time quite intimate work was influenced by Chris Ware and his composition of comics windows, which takes the reader away from the traditional linear style of reading. Franta also uses a similar style for filling his drawings with detailed backgrounds and a large number of figures. The fan-filled stadiums at football matches stand out in particular due to the number of people and the detail in the drawings.

In the first of two loosely connected stories, the protagonist has to find a partner for a planned romantic trip to Rome following an unexpected break-up. The journey and the holiday are full of tragicomic adventures, largely influenced by the amount of alcohol consumed. In the second story he meets a girl during a fight between football hooligans. Although she’s a fan of a rival club, she invites him to her home following a night in a bar, but the intense relationship doesn’t last long. The seemingly banal stories are elevated by Franta’s drawing style and his wealth of artistic and narrative ideas.

A dialogue between an award-winning Czech writer, journalist and the founder of hospice care about her life, spiritual journey and attitudes to the terminally ill.

When most people in the Czech Republic hear the term “hospice and palliative care,” there is one name that comes to mind: Marie Svatošová, the doctor who pioneered care for the dying in this country at a time when death was a taboo subject. In his latest book of discussions with interesting personalities, the journalist and writer Aleš Palán examines milestones in the life of Marie Svatošová, the founder of the first Czech hospice. He traces her personal, spiritual and professional journey, her perception of Christianity and help in providing end-of-life care, and the values she is guided by. Aleš Palán is an excellent interviewer and Marie Svatošová replies as simply and plainly as possible. What is it like to inhabit the all-powerful white coat? Is euthanasia acceptable? How to deal with a bleak diagnosis and what meaning does it have? This book of interviews with the famous doctor includes black-and-white and colour photographs.

About the author

Aleš Palán (1965) is a novelist, journalist and author of more than forty books, half of which are interviews in book form. He has won several literary awards.

Marie Svatošová (1942) is a Czech doctor, writer and founder of the hospice movement in the Czech Republic. In 1995 she was behind the creation of the first Czech hospice in Červený Kostelec. She has helped to set up a number of other Bohemian and Moravian hospices by providing assistance and advice. She tirelessly travels around the Czech Republic lecturing and continues to promote the idea of hospices. Her books such as Až k prolití krve (Until Blood is Spilled, 2005) and Hospice a umění doprovázet (Hospices and the Art of End-of-Life Care, 2011) have become bestsellers. Marie Svatošová has been awarded several state honours.

An animal fairy tale or forest fantasy? The mysteriously named Žako and Stopotvorná borrows essential ingredients from both these genres.

The vixen Stopotvorná leaves behind russet tracks, but which she expertly brushes away with her bushy tail, while the parrot Žako is eventually able to speak on behalf of all the human and animal characters in this thrilling tale. The chance encounter of a vixen and a parrot occurs in the home of the vet who rescued them – and who is rewarded with a new friendship with a kind waitress. Without giving away all the details of their adventures, we can disclose that they travel on a water lily to a place teeming with rich flora and fauna, where the Mighty Tree grows, whose seeds accentuate certain characteristics for better or for worse. The other animal protagonists include a pack of wolves, a capybara, and a prairie dog. One of the main roles, though, is played by the vixen’s lost sister, Matylda, who Stopotvorná has a competition with to see who has the better sense of smell. There are full-page illustrations, surprisingly drawn in brightly coloured markers with details in brilliant orange, which also appear in the distinctive front cover.

Age: 6+

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