Prague Talk

Historian Mark Cornwall is an expert on Czech-German relations. He is preparing a book to be entitled Queer Bohemians and another on treason under the Habsburg Empire.

Documenary maker Tomáš Bojar discusses his new film Good Old Czechs, which follows the intriguing stories of brave airmen who constantly risked their lives in WWII.

Helen Epstein on her father Kurt Epstein, a Jewish Czechoslovak athlete who insisted on taking part in the 1936 "Nazi Olympics" and is the subject of a new exhibition.

Digital anthropologist Marie Heřmanová discusses Czech politics and social media, how much we should share on the internet and many other aspects of our online lives today.

Photographer Libuše Jarcovjáková documented her own turbulent life, and minorities such as homosexuals and Romanies, in the final decades of communism in Czechoslovakia. Some of her best known pictures come from an underground gay and lesbian bar in Prague called T-Club. In those years Jarcovjáková had no real hope of showing her often raw, black and white work publicly. However she eventually did...

The leaders of the newly established Czechoslovakia should have done far more to ensure its stability. So says historian Professor Igor Lukeš, in an interview that also looks at 1990s Czech politics, NATO enlargement, Russia and much more.

Martin Klíma was a prime mover behind the November 1989 student gathering that sparked the Velvet Revolution. He has since found enormous success with role-playing games, including as co-founder of the hit company Warhorse Studios.

When Dana Huňátová joined Czechoslovakia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in late 1989 she literally came across a red telephone to Moscow. As head of office of new minister Jiří Dienstbier she was closely involved in the deep overhaul of the ministry required after four decades of communism.

František Vrábel is an expert on Russia’s infiltration of Czech society via sophisticated online disinformation. He discusses efforts to combat Kremlin propaganda, says regulating Facebook is key and explains his own motivations for working “mostly for free” in this area.

Has Putin dangerously lost touch with reality? And how are things most likely to play out now, following the launch of his brutal war against Ukraine? Leading Czech expert on Russia Michael Romancov discusses those questions, and others pertaining to the Czech Republic.

Roman Máca has recently been monitoring a rise in activity among pro-Russian voices on the Czech internet, linked to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. The security expert has also been drawing attention to radical individuals, some of whom he calls Putin’s Czech “legion”.

Linguist Julie Sedivy’s family left Czechoslovakia when she was two and when they settled in Canada she gradually lost most of her Czech. In her book Memory Speaks has many interesting things to say about memory, language, identity and migration.

Adventurer Benedict Allen used to be referred to as a “new Indiana Jones”. The English writer and broadcaster, who now lives here in Prague, shares some of his stories with us in this interview.

For three decades Glen Emery has been one of the best-known foreigners in Prague. The charismatic Canadian was a pioneering bar and club operator in the city back in the “Wild East” days of the early 1990s – and has many great stories from that period.

Pavel Klusák, author of a new book on Karel Gott, discusses several of the most contentious points in the singer’s career – and the qualities that made him his country’s biggest ever pop star.

Children’s author and illustrator Peter Sís, the subject of a new documentary, discusses how the Czech version of Nicky & Vera differs from the original, the fact his kids were models for David Černý’s baby sculptures – and a collaboration with David Bowie that never happened.

Indian-born Czech citizen Hrishabh Sandilya used to run nightspots and work in education in Prague. But then he took a rather different turn, co-founding an NGO in Cyprus that is helping equip migrants for success in their new countries.

Joe Yanosik is the author of A Consumer Guide to the Plastic People of the Universe. As well as exploring the legendary Czech underground group’s discography, it also delves deep into the Plastic People’s fascinating history.

Journalist Hynek Pallas grew up in a notable Czech household in Sweden, where his family settled after being forced out of Czechoslovakia. From their home, his father Jiří ran the label Šafrán 78, releasing music by artists that were banned by the Communists.

In a new Czech-language book, travel writer and journalist Mark Baker brings to life the Czechoslovakia of the late 1980s and early 1990s, when communism gave way to capitalism at breakneck speed and everything seemed possible. He looks back on that fascinating period in this interview.

Historian Martin Nekola has just brought out Czech New York, a book detailing the Czech community in the Big Apple, where 40,000 once lived on the Upper East Side. Here he discusses many interesting aspects of the Czech impact on the city, from early arrivals to the post-1948 emigres hounded on suspicion they were Communist spies.

Ireland’s ambassador to Prague discusses her background and inspirations, approach to the job – and how she connects with the Irish community, Czech representatives and other diplomats in this trying period.

Edita Kudláčová is about to take over as Head of Radio and Audio at the EBU in Geneva. The outgoing creative chief at Czech Radio has lots of interesting things to say about the future of the medium, podcasting – and how public service broadcasters can reach new audiences.

Czech academic Jakub Hlávka (30) has advised NASA and is currently working on US government Covid programs. Here he speaks about his flourishing career, broad range of interests – and “giving back” to his homeland.

Nicholas Winton’s story has inspired millions. That of Vera Gissing, one of the children he saved, is less well-known. Now children’s author and illustrator Petr Sís has brought them together in the beautiful, moving new book Nicky & Vera.