Prague Writers Festival
Encyclopedia
The Prague Writers´ Festival is a internationally acknowledged social occasion for great thinkers and eager readers to share important philosophical ideas. The festival takes place annually in springtime in Prague
. In 2005 it had its second brief appearance in Vienna
, and it has aspirations to expand to New York
and Athens
. It gains considerable media coverage, and many of the events are broadcast via the internet. Every year several internationally distinguished writers are presented. In the recent past, these have included John Banville
, Lawrence Ferlinghetti
, Salman Rushdie, Irvine Welsh
, William Styron
and Nadine Gordimer
.
Themes 1991-2012
The main media partner of the PWF is the British daily newspaper The Guardian
, which often refers to festival events, issues and news on its cultural pages. The PWF can be seen from anywhere around the world connected to the internet – interested people can see both streamed live broadcasts and archived broadcasts on their monitors.
Readings
The main focus of the festival is its annual public readings. Every evening during the event, authors take the stage. They engage in conversation and read excerpts from their work, each writer reading in his native language while Czech and English translations are simultaneously broadcast through headphones or read by actors onstage. Authors engage in other support actions such as book signings in bookstores, concerts or film projections.
Conversations
Each day a new conversation, dedicated to a literary or political subject, is held. The hour-long discussions are followed by questions from the audience, inviting free interaction between thinkers and artists, writers and audience.
Other Projects
As a cultural foundation, Prague Writers’ Festival is engaged year-round in many, diverse cultural activities. The PWF Foundation publishes books and helps to organize concerts (Ed Sanders and the Plastic People of the Universe) and movie screenings (Heresy and Rebellion in Aero cinema), as well as art exhibitions (Dada East?, World in 1968). Its activities also focus on students, cooperating for example with students from Charles University, Masaryk University
and Prague College of Journalism.
Prague Writers’ Festival offers discount tickets and other perks to high school classes. PWF also partners with principals and teachers of local schools to present talented young writers with the annual Walter Serner Short Story Prize.
Universities
The festival has been connected for many years—by virtue of its focus on humanities, languages and literature—with numerous Czech universities and with New York University in Prague. Festival activities are focused on students, cooperating for example with students from Charles University, Masaryk University
and Prague College of Journalism.
Historical and Political Subjects
The festival often asks its participating authors questions regarding politics and society. It is the hope of PWF that the event will initiate discussion of important issues and contribute to the creation of a socio-political consciousness.
Literary Database
The festival‘s archives are available to the public online. www.pwf.cz gives access to a useful database of Czech and English texts. One of the major aims of the PWF Foundation is to secure funding for full digitization of its archives.
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
. In 2005 it had its second brief appearance in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, and it has aspirations to expand to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
. It gains considerable media coverage, and many of the events are broadcast via the internet. Every year several internationally distinguished writers are presented. In the recent past, these have included John Banville
John Banville
John Banville is an Irish novelist and screenwriter.Banville's breakthrough novel The Book of Evidence was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and won the Guinness Peat Aviation award. His eighteenth novel, The Sea, won the Man Booker Prize in 2005. He was awarded the Franz Kafka Prize in 2011...
, Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Lawrence Ferlinghetti is an American poet, painter, liberal activist, and the co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers...
, Salman Rushdie, Irvine Welsh
Irvine Welsh
Irvine Welsh is a contemporary Scottish novelist, best known for his novel Trainspotting. His work is characterised by raw Scottish dialect, and brutal depiction of the realities of Edinburgh life...
, William Styron
William Styron
William Clark Styron, Jr. was an American novelist and essayist who won major literary awards for his work.For much of his career, Styron was best known for his novels, which included...
and Nadine Gordimer
Nadine Gordimer
Nadine Gordimer is a South African writer and political activist. She was awarded the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature when she was recognised as a woman "who through her magnificent epic writing has – in the words of Alfred Nobel – been of very great benefit to humanity".Her writing has long dealt...
.
History
"The Prague Writers' Festival 2011 is an annual event with a long tradition, presenting the world of literature as a place of social and cultural dialogue. The Festival originated in late-seventies London, when Michael March (PWF‘s President) began organizing international poetry readings at Keats House. As allowed by the Helsinki Accords, writers from the former Soviet Bloc were invited to participate. Immediately following the fall of the Berlin Wall, the readings relocated to Prague, which was “a natural host and meeting place for writers.” Writers from various countries are invited to Prague as some kind of crossroad between East and West to present their work and their culture to an international audience in the form of discussions and readings. The first Prague Writers’ Festival took place at Valdštejn Palac in May 1991 and was themed “Wedding Preparations in the Country.” Over the next twenty years, Prague Writers‘ Festival became increasingly more an essential event in Prague‘s cultural scene. Now, it is "one of the most engaging cultural events in Prague and one of the most notable literary events in Europe."Themes 1991-2012
- 2012 - Only the Future Exists
- 2011 - Some Like It Hot
- 2010 - Heresy and Rebellion
- 2009 - 2001 Nights: The Art of Storytelling
- 2008 - Laughter and Forgetting
- 2007 - Dada East
- 2006 - dedicated to Arthur Miller: "There is no life without ideals."
- 2005 - dedicated to Giacomo Casanova: "Our ignorance becomes our sole recource"
- 2004 - dedicated to Joseph Roth: "I don't know where I'm going."
- 2003 - dedicated to William S. Burroughs: "We dont report the news. We write it."
- 2002 - dedicated to Jean Genet
- 2001 - dedicated to Primo Levi: "If Not Now, When?"
- 2000 - dedicated to Jaroslav Seifert
- 1999 - dedicated to Vladimir Holan
- 1998 - dedicated to Bohumil Hrabal
- 1997 - dedicated to Samuel Beckett
- 1996 - Ancient evenings
- 1993 - 1995 - without theme
- 1992 - Paradise lost
- 1991 - Wedding Preparations in the Country
Activities
Worldwide CoverageThe main media partner of the PWF is the British daily newspaper The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, which often refers to festival events, issues and news on its cultural pages. The PWF can be seen from anywhere around the world connected to the internet – interested people can see both streamed live broadcasts and archived broadcasts on their monitors.
Readings
The main focus of the festival is its annual public readings. Every evening during the event, authors take the stage. They engage in conversation and read excerpts from their work, each writer reading in his native language while Czech and English translations are simultaneously broadcast through headphones or read by actors onstage. Authors engage in other support actions such as book signings in bookstores, concerts or film projections.
Conversations
Each day a new conversation, dedicated to a literary or political subject, is held. The hour-long discussions are followed by questions from the audience, inviting free interaction between thinkers and artists, writers and audience.
Other Projects
As a cultural foundation, Prague Writers’ Festival is engaged year-round in many, diverse cultural activities. The PWF Foundation publishes books and helps to organize concerts (Ed Sanders and the Plastic People of the Universe) and movie screenings (Heresy and Rebellion in Aero cinema), as well as art exhibitions (Dada East?, World in 1968). Its activities also focus on students, cooperating for example with students from Charles University, Masaryk University
Masaryk University
Masaryk University is the second largest university in the Czech Republic, a member of the Compostela Group and the Utrecht Network. Founded in 1919 in Brno as the third Czech university , it now consists of nine faculties and 42,182 students...
and Prague College of Journalism.
Educational Dimension
High SchoolsPrague Writers’ Festival offers discount tickets and other perks to high school classes. PWF also partners with principals and teachers of local schools to present talented young writers with the annual Walter Serner Short Story Prize.
Universities
The festival has been connected for many years—by virtue of its focus on humanities, languages and literature—with numerous Czech universities and with New York University in Prague. Festival activities are focused on students, cooperating for example with students from Charles University, Masaryk University
Masaryk University
Masaryk University is the second largest university in the Czech Republic, a member of the Compostela Group and the Utrecht Network. Founded in 1919 in Brno as the third Czech university , it now consists of nine faculties and 42,182 students...
and Prague College of Journalism.
Historical and Political Subjects
The festival often asks its participating authors questions regarding politics and society. It is the hope of PWF that the event will initiate discussion of important issues and contribute to the creation of a socio-political consciousness.
Literary Database
The festival‘s archives are available to the public online. www.pwf.cz gives access to a useful database of Czech and English texts. One of the major aims of the PWF Foundation is to secure funding for full digitization of its archives.
Nobel Prize Winners
- Gao XingjianGao XingjianGao Xingjian is a Chinese-born novelist, playwright, critic, and painter. An émigré to France since 1987, Gao was granted French citizenship in 1997...
(PWF 2009, Nobel Prize 2000) - Wole SoyinkaWole SoyinkaAkinwande Oluwole "Wole" Soyinka is a Nigerian writer, poet and playwright. He was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature, where he was recognised as a man "who in a wide cultural perspective and with poetic overtones fashions the drama of existence", and became the first African in Africa and...
(PWF 2006, Nobel Prize 1986) - Nadine GordimerNadine GordimerNadine Gordimer is a South African writer and political activist. She was awarded the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature when she was recognised as a woman "who through her magnificent epic writing has – in the words of Alfred Nobel – been of very great benefit to humanity".Her writing has long dealt...
(PWF 2004, Nobel Prize 1991) - Harold PinterHarold PinterHarold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
(PWF 1999, Nobel Prize 2005) - José SaramagoJosé SaramagoJosé de Sousa Saramago, GColSE was a Nobel-laureate Portuguese novelist, poet, playwright and journalist. His works, some of which can be seen as allegories, commonly present subversive perspectives on historic events, emphasizing the human factor. Harold Bloom has described Saramago as "a...
(PWF 1994, Nobel Prize 1998) - Herta MüllerHerta MüllerHerta Müller is a Romanian-born German novelist, poet and essayist noted for her works depicting the effects of violence, cruelty and terror, usually in the setting of Communist Romania under the repressive Nicolae Ceauşescu regime which she experienced herself...
(PWF 1999, Nobel Prize 2009) - Derek WalcottDerek WalcottDerek Alton Walcott, OBE OCC is a Saint Lucian poet, playwright, writer and visual artist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992 and the T. S. Eliot Prize in 2011 for White Egrets. His works include the Homeric epic Omeros...
(PWF 2011, Nobel Prize 1992)
Man Booker Prize Winners
- Margaret AtwoodMargaret AtwoodMargaret Eleanor Atwood, is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, and environmental activist. She is among the most-honoured authors of fiction in recent history; she is a winner of the Arthur C...
(Canada) - Man Booker Prize 2000 for The Blind AssassinThe Blind AssassinThe Blind Assassin is an award-winning, bestselling novel by the Canadian author Margaret Atwood. It was first published by McClelland and Stewart in 2000. Set in Canada, it is narrated from the present day, referring back to events that span the twentieth century.The work was awarded the Man...
, PWF 2008 - Nadine GordimerNadine GordimerNadine Gordimer is a South African writer and political activist. She was awarded the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature when she was recognised as a woman "who through her magnificent epic writing has – in the words of Alfred Nobel – been of very great benefit to humanity".Her writing has long dealt...
(South Africa) – Man Booker Prize 1974 for The ConservationistThe ConservationistThe Conservationist is a 1974 novel by 1991 Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer. The book was a joint winner of the Man Booker Prize for fiction.-Plot summary:...
, PWF 2004 - Arundhati RoyArundhati RoyArundhati Roy is an Indian novelist. She won the Booker Prize in 1997 for her novel, The God of Small Things, and has also written two screenplays and several collections of essays...
(India) - Man Booker Prize 1997 for The God of Small ThingsThe God of Small ThingsThe God of Small Things is the debut novel of Indian author Arundhati Roy. It is a story about the childhood experiences of fraternal twins whose lives are destroyed by the "Love Laws" that lay down "who should be loved, and how. And how much." The book is a description of how the small things in...
, PWF 2003 - Yann MartelYann MartelYann Martel is a Canadian author best known for the Man Booker Prize-winning novel Life of Pi.-Early life:Martel was born in Salamanca, Spain where his father was posted as a diplomat for the Canadian government. He was raised in Costa Rica, France, Mexico, and Canada...
(Canada) - Man Booker Prize 2002 for Life of PiLife of PiLife of Pi is a fantasy adventure novel by Yann Martel published in 2001. The protagonist, Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel, an Indian boy from Pondicherry, explores issues of spirituality and practicality from an early age...
, PWF 2003 - Salman Rushdie (India, United Kingdom) - Man Booker Prize for Midnight's ChildrenMidnight's ChildrenMidnight's Children is a 1981 book by Salman Rushdie about India's transition from British colonialism to independence and the partition of India. It is considered an example of postcolonial literature and magical realism...
, PWF 2001 - Ian McEwanIan McEwanIan Russell McEwan CBE, FRSA, FRSL is a British novelist and screenwriter, and one of Britain's most highly regarded writers. In 2008, The Times named him among their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945"....
(United Kingdom) - Man Booker Prize 1998 for AmsterdamAmsterdamAmsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, PWF 2001 - John BanvilleJohn BanvilleJohn Banville is an Irish novelist and screenwriter.Banville's breakthrough novel The Book of Evidence was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and won the Guinness Peat Aviation award. His eighteenth novel, The Sea, won the Man Booker Prize in 2005. He was awarded the Franz Kafka Prize in 2011...
(Ireland) - Man Booker Prize 2005 for The SeaThe Sea-Films:*La Mer , an 1895 French short, black-and-white, silent documentary film directed by Louis Lumière*The Sea , a 1933 Polish short, documentary film directed by Wanda Jakubowska...
, PWF 2001
Pulitzer Prize Winners
- William StyronWilliam StyronWilliam Clark Styron, Jr. was an American novelist and essayist who won major literary awards for his work.For much of his career, Styron was best known for his novels, which included...
(USA) - Pulitzer Prize 1968 for The Confessions of Nat TurnerThe Confessions of Nat TurnerThe Confessions of Nat Turner is a 1967 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by U.S. writer William Styron. Presented as a first-person narrative by historical figure Nat Turner, the novel concerns the slave revolt in Virginia in 1831...
, PWF 2006 - Jeffrey EugenidesJeffrey EugenidesJeffrey Kent Eugenides is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and short story writer. Eugenides is most known for his first two novels, The Virgin Suicides and Middlesex . His novel The Marriage Plot was published in October, 2011.-Life and career:Eugenides was born in Detroit, Michigan,...
(USA) - Pulitzer Prize 2003 for MiddlesexMiddlesexMiddlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...
, PWF 2003 - Richard FordRichard FordRichard Ford is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist and short story writer. His best-known works are the novel The Sportswriter and its sequels, Independence Day and The Lay of the Land, and the short story collection Rock Springs, which contains several widely anthologized stories.-Early...
(USA) - Pulitzer Prize 1996 for Independence DayIndependence DayAn Independence Day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's assumption of independent statehood, usually after ceasing to be a colony or part of another nation or state, and more rarely after the end of a military occupation...
, PWF 2000 - Michael CunninghamMichael CunninghamMichael Cunningham is an American writer, best known for his 1998 novel The Hours, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award in 1999.-Early life and education:...
(USA) - Pulitzer Prize 1999 for The HoursThe HoursThe Hours can refer to:* The Hours , by Francesco Bartolozzi, based on a painting by Maria Cosway* The Hours , by Michael Cunningham...
, PWF 1994 - Junot DíazJunot DíazJunot Díaz is a Dominican-American writer and creative writing professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology . Central to Díaz's work is the immigrant experience...
(Dominican Republic) - Pulitzer Prize 2008 for The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar WaoThe Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar WaoThe Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is a best-selling novel written by Dominican author Junot Díaz. Although a work of fiction, the novel is set in New Jersey where Díaz was raised and deals explicitly with his ancestral homeland's experience under dictator Rafael Trujillo...
, PWF 2011