NewsVaclav Havel Human Rights Prize-winning Turkish judge sentenced to 10 years January 26, 2019 Source: Stockholm center for freedom / http://stockholmcf.org / By SCF / Murat Aslan, president of the now-dissolved Judges and Prosecutors Association (YARSAV), was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Friday on trumped-up charges of membership in a “terrorist organization” in reference to the faith-based civic Gülen movement. The Ankara …
NewsCourage Comes from Prison December 13, 2018 Source: China Change / www.chinachange.org / Liao Yiwu, December 10, 2018, International Human Rights Day, Berlin I’ve so often said that my courage and everything about me comes from prison. This is how I differ from other Chinese writers. In prison, I was tortured ‘til I could no longer bear it, …
EventsThe Plastic People of the Universe to play at Palác Akropolis December 3, 2018 Source: Prague TV / https://prague.tv / By Michaela Dehning / “It is better not to play at all than to play what the establishment demands,” once said Ivan Martin Jirous, the Czech dissident, poet and the artistic director of The Plastic People of the Universe. It would be difficult to …
News, TheaterRock ‘N’ Roll October 20, 2018 Source: Windy City Times / www.windycitymediagroup.com / By Jonathan Abarbanel / Playwright: Tom Stoppard At: The Artistic Home, 1376 W. Grand Ave., Tickets: 866-811-4111; TheArtisticHome.org; $34. Runs through: Nov. 18 This is a well-acted, intelligent production of a sprawling play with a tangle of themes and ideas intersecting symbolically if …
News, TheaterA Review of “Protest” October 16, 2018 Source: The Bagpipe / www.bagpipeonline.com / By Ellie Brown / “Those that say that individuals are not capable of changing anything are only looking for excuses.” -Vaclav Havel Powerful speeches, comical policemen, and the realities of humanity were all put on display in the show “Protest (and other writings)” that …
Havel Conversations, NewsMadeleine Albright Remembers Vaclav Havel October 12, 2018 Source: Columbia / Shool of International and Public Affairs / The former U.S. secretary of state spoke at a ceremony honoring the late Czech president. Under the gaze of the statuary in the Low Library rotunda, former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright stepped to the podium to honor Václav Havel, …
News, TheaterCovenant College Presents “Protest” October 8, 2018 Source: The Bagpipe / www.bagpipeonline.com / By Mia Connell / This September, the Covenant College Theatre Department presents political dissident and playwright Vaclav Havel’s “Protest,” a play revealing what it means to act with integrity versus hypocrisy. In “Protest,” the price of avoiding hypocrisy becomes apparent to two old friends …
Havel Conversations, NewsThe Power of the Powerless in China, panel discussion October 4, 2018 The Power of the Powerless in China, panel discussion, Bohemian National Hall, New York, October 26, 2018 Panelists: Liao Yiwu, winner of 2018 Disturbing the Peace, Award for a Courageous Writer at Risk, writer, musician, poet; Liu Xia, Disturbing the Peace nominee, artist; Andrew Nathan, Professor of Political Science at …
News, TheaterInterview with Zuzana Kronerova of Astorka Korzo ́90 Theatre September 21, 2018 Astorka Korzo ́90 Theatre will be presenting their production of Eve of Retirement/ Pred Odchodom na Odpocinok at The Rehearsal for Truth theater festival in honor of Vaclav Havel. The festival takes place from 25 -30 September at The Bohemian National Hall and is presented by The Vaclav Havel Library …
Havel Conversations, NewsVáclav Havel Library Foundation head Pavla Niklová: US students are still excited something like Havel’s story is possible January 13, 2019 Source: Radio Praha / www.radio.cz / By Ian Willoughby / The Václav Havel Library in Prague follows the US presidential library model in gathering and archiving materials relating to the late Czech dissident turned head of state. In the US, Havel’s legacy is promoted by sister organisation the Václav Havel …
NewsRussia’s Lyudmila Alekseyeva Remembered As A ‘Force Of Nature’ And ‘Giant’ Of Human Rights December 13, 2018 Source: Radio Free Europe / www.rferl.org / By RFE/RL / Human rights defenders and diplomats are praising Lyudmila Alekseyeva and her lifetime commitment to the struggle for justice in the Soviet Union and Russia as an inspirational example. Alekseyeva, a veteran defender of human rights who challenged the Soviet government …
Havel Conversations, NewsGail Papp on Václav Havel among New York’s hippies – and under house arrest in communist Czechoslovakia November 21, 2018 Source: Radio Praha / www.radio.cz / By Ian Willoughby / Taking advantage of relative liberalisation at home, the young Václav Havel visited New York in the spring of 1968 for the US premiere of his second major play, The Memorandum. It was staged by the Public Theater, which had just …
Awards, Disturbing the peace, NewsReality Czech: The Hundredth Anniversary of the Founding of Czechoslovakia October 11, 2018 Gala Event: Thursday, September 27, 2018 Vaclav Havel Library Foundation & Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association Gala 2018 with guest of honor MADELEINE ALBRIGHT.
Awards, Disturbing the peace, NewsAcceptance Speech for the 2018 Annual Disturbing the Peace Literary Prize for a Courageous Writer at Risk October 3, 2018 Source: China Change / www.chinachange.org / By Liao Yiwu / I thank the award committee for conferring this honor upon me. The award is named for Vaclav Havel’s first work, his autobiography Disturbing the Peace. When translated into Chinese, however, the title of this work means about the same as …
News, TheaterInterview with Juraj Nvota – Director of the Production: Eve of Retirement September 21, 2018 Astorka Korzo ́90 Theatre will be presenting their production of Eve of Retirement/ Pred Odchodom na Odpocinok at The Rehearsal for Truth theater festival in honor of Vaclav Havel. The festival takes place from 25 -30 September at The Bohemian National Hall and is presented by The Vaclav Havel Library …