Remembering E. L. Doctorow (1931–2015) August 4, 2015 Source: Pen America www.pen.org / “Fiction is democratic. It reasserts the authority of the single mind to make and remake the world.” —E. L. Doctorow PEN American Center mourns the passing and celebrates the life of acclaimed author E. L. Doctorow, who died yesterday in Manhattan of complications from lung …
Infinite Possibility: 5 Authors In Need of Biopics August 2, 2015 Source: word&film www.wordandfilm.com / By Tobin Mitnick / Photo By Brigitte Lacombe / This week, with “The End of the Tour” and “Paulo Coelho’s Best Story,” we see the emergence of two long-gestating films that belong to a marvelously fraught genre of cinema – the writer biopic. While it may …
Lessons in Revolution from the Republic of Professors July 31, 2015 Source: The First Things www.firstthings.com / Blog By Matthew H. Young / Photo By Premysl Fialka / Revolutions can be notoriously violent. However, in a brief few months in 1989, a landslide of peaceful revolutions replaced authoritarian dictators with democratic governments, defying the brutal legacy of popular revolution. In a period of …
Ladislav Kantor has died at the age of 69 July 27, 2015 Source: Cesky rozhlas www.radio.cz / By Jan Velinger / The former head of Czech Philharmonic as well as aide to Václav Havel, Ladislav Kantor, has died at the age of 69. Kantor was the co-founder and singer for CK Vocal. Post-1989, he worked at Prague Castle for dissident turned president Václav …
Dalai Lama to receive Czech supporters of Tibet July 22, 2015 Source: Czech News Agency www.ctk.cz / The Dalai Lama will receive representatives of the Czechs Support Tibet group and other NGOs who will pass congratulations on his 80th birthday to him in early August, director of the Vaclav Havel Library Marta Smolikova and former environment minister Martin Bursik told CTK …
Will Maduro pull nation back from the abyss? July 15, 2015 Source: Miami Herald / By Willam Luers and Wendy Luers / The change now has a date” announced Venezuela’s young, charismatic leader, Leopold López, from prison as he stopped his 30-day hunger strike recently. The decision to end his protest — in which he was joined by 100 fellow strikers …
Square in Israel´s Haifa is called after former president Havel July 1, 2015 Source: Ceske noviny / By CTK / Tel Aviv / Prague – A square in Haifa, Israel, was named after former Czech president Vaclav Havel in the presence of Czech Culture Minister Daniel Herman today, the ministry´s spokeswoman Simona Cigankova has told CTK. Streets and buildings have also been called …
Prague’s Philosopher-King June 30, 2015 Source: City Journal / By Daniel J. Mahoney / A new biography chronicles the remarkable life and thought of Vaclav Havel. Michael Zantovsky has written a remarkable book about a complex and genuinely admirable human being. Zantovsky, a long-time friend and sometime press secretary to Václav Havel, went on to …
Yangon film festival pays tribute to Czech visionary Vaclav Havel June 26, 2015 Source: Asian Correspondent / By Michele Penna / Last week, pictures of a young – and eventually old – man were hanging at the Pasondan Art Gallery, in downtown Yangon. The black and white images portrayed him as he talked with friends, in a library, in prison and eventually as …
A tip for Europe’s frustrated young radicals: reclaim the dissident spirit June 13, 2015 Source: The Guardian / By Natalie Nougayrède / The Czech Velvet Revolution, with Václav Havel at its helm, was brave and principled. Syriza and Podemos should study it. “Live within the truth”: it may sound slightly lofty now, but that was the core, and very powerful, message of Communist bloc dissidents …
Vendela Vida: ‘The sense of smell is underused in fiction these days’ June 8, 2015 Source: The Globe and Mail / www.theglobeandmail.com / Vendela Vida is the author of several books, including the novels Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name and The Lovers. Vida, who lives in California, is also a founding editor of The Believer magazine. Her latest novel, The Diver’s Clothes Lie …
REVIEW: Memorandum by Vaclav Havel, Lancaster Library May 27, 2015 Source: Lancaster Guardian / www.lancasterguardian.co.uk / ‘Memorandum’, a black comedy by Czech philosopher, politician and playwright Václav Havel, was written and first staged in Communist Prague. It is very much in the tradition of the Theatre of the Absurd, alongside the works of Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter, John Osborne and …
Havel´s essay influences Egyptian political activists -translator May 16, 2015 Source: ČTK / www.ctk.cz / Late Czech president Vaclav Havel´s political essay The Power of the Powerless has markedly influenced political activists in Egypt, Egyptian expert in Czech studies Khalid Biltagi, who translated this work by Havel, told CTK today. Biltagi took part in a discussion about Havel, organised by The Vaclav …
The Moral Revolution in East-Central Europe May 14, 2015 Source: The World Post / By John Feffer / Some of the most powerful critiques of the Communist governments in East-Central Europe were moral. Vaclav Havel, for instance, argued that the regimes, with their propaganda and inequalities and corruption, were built on a foundation of lies. He proposed the alternative of …
Havel: A Life by Michael Žantovský review – ‘an imperfect man, like the rest of us’ June 22, 2015 Source: The Guardin / By PD Smith / An honest and moving portrait that reveals the man’s faults as well as his undoubted greatness. Even as a teenager, Václav Havel thought it vital to be true to yourself: “to open the eyes to one’s own heart”, as he wrote in a letter. …