David Vaughan

The major literary event of last year was a sad one. One of this country’s foremost writers, Jan Balabán died in his sleep at the tragically early age of 49, a huge loss…

Over the next six months we'll be looking at some of the most fascinating recordings to be found down in the Czech Radio basement. Czech - and previously Czechoslovak …

If you live in the United States or many parts of Western Europe, you will almost certainly have come across e-books. Downloading books electronically has become a major…

It is quite likely that you will never have heard of the Czech teacher, religious thinker, pacifist and humanist, Přemysl Pitter, but he deserves to be remembered as one…

Why did the communists ban comics? Why is it so hard to translate the 19th century English novel into Czech? And what does this have to do with a 17th century battle in…

A good few years ago I used to live in a tiny flat in an old house called the Mouse Hole, which was just off the ancient street that runs along the bottom of the park…

The medieval vaulted cellars of the Shakespeare and Sons bookshop offered an atmospheric backdrop to the second of Radio Prague’s series of public discussions, organized…

Last month the Czech Republic enjoyed its annual celebration of poetry, the “Den poezie”. Literally this translates as “poetry day”, although in reality the event lasts a…

We have heard a lot about reforms to the school system in the Czech Republic, but what is it like being an eighteen-year-old about to face the new school-leaving exams…

Radio Prague’s literary connections go back over seventy years, starting even before the Second World War. Well known writers like Arnošt Lustig, Lenka Reinerová or…