Jaroslav Seifert Prize awarded to essayist and art historian Josef Kroutvor

This year’s Jaroslav Seifert Prize will be awarded to poet, essayist and art historian Josef Kroutvor. The jury decided to give the award to Mr Kroutvor for his book Poletování jednoho ptáčka / Vzpomínání a listování as well as for his ongoing work as an essayist, the Czech News Agency reported on Thursday citing Lucie Nekvasilová from the Charter 77 Foundation, which has been handing out the prize since 1986.

Mr Kroutvor, who is 80 years old, studied at the Philosophical Faculty of Charles University. In 1970 he started working for the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague where he focused on the history of posters. During the normalisation period some of his work came out via dissident samizdat publications where his pen name was Josef K. He is set to receive the award in person in November at the Mayor’s Residence within the Municipal Library of Prague.