Prague’s Microfestival returns next week for its third installment – a week of readings and discussions in Czech and English from a number of Prague-based and international writers. The festival is quite unique on the Prague scene, as it is a far less commercial, and perhaps more significant alternative to the Prague Writers’ Festival.
This year’s Microfestival will be completely bi-lingual, with all events taking place in both Czech and English. Besides Prague-based writers, visitors will come from Germany, Amsterdam and the U.K. While readings from the likes of Ken Nash, Louis Armand, Holly Tavel, Joshua Mensch, Thor Garcia, Megan Garr, Catherine Hales, Sylva Fischerová, Alistair Noon, David Vichnar and Donna Stonecipher, among many others, are enough of a draw, the festival will also see the launch of several books from Litteraria Pragensia Books as well as VEER Books. In addition, the newest issues of Czech poetry journal Psi Vino, Versal, a literary journal based in Amsterdam, and the Prague-based English language VLAK, a journal of contemporary poetics and the arts, will all be released at the festival. For more information, see Vlakmagazine.blogspot.com
Colophon talked to festival organizer Louis Armand about the purpose of the festival and its place on the Prague literary landscape.
The Prague Post: Why is this literature festival described as “Micro?”
Louis Armand: Micro, because we wanted to avoid having a big production and try to keep thing a little more intimate, where writers and audience could get a chance to interact over a period of a week and travel between different venues in Prague.
TPP: What is the purpose of the Microfestival and where do you see it fitting in the literary and cultural landscape of Prague?
LA: The purpose of the Microfestival is to provide a forum for poetic exchange outside the existing Festival circuit, and on the ‘fringe’ of the PWF, which caters to primarily establishment writers with the inclusion of token Czech writers, and is far more commercially orientated. The PMF is a small festival, to which writers and publishers come because they themselves are interested in what the event has to offer. It is artist-run from within the local community, showcasing local writers alongside writers from the region and further afield. The emphasis is upon new writing which is explorational and conscious of being outside the literary establishment defined by the Anglo-American publishing industry. The event is also about broadening the discussion of ‘translocality’: of writing outside the confines of nationalism, pursuing a broadly cosmopolitan ‘agenda.’
TPP: Who is the target audience for the festival?
LA: The audience is anyone with an interest in new writing….There is a growing sense here that a kind of momentum has been gathering over the last several years, that writers are emerging and people are taking notice: that the two languages, Czech and English, have a great deal to say to one another and are saying it and being heard; and that Prague is re-emerging as a genuinely cosmopolitan centre, whose citizens from all backgrounds and all nationalities are contributing to a vital and unique literary culture.
MICROFESTIVAL PROGRAM
[*Friday 13 May, MONSTER FICTION NIGHT, a pre-Microfest evening at Klub Utopia, Bělehradská 45, Praha 2, from 7.30pm. Featuring Thor Garcia, Holly Tavel, Ken Nash, Louis Armand--with the launch of Thor Garcia's TUND from Litteraria Pragensia. (EN)] / *V pátek 13. května, v předvečer Mikrofestivalu, proběhne večer čtené prózy v Klubu Utopia, Bělehradská 45, Praha 2, od 19.30. Během večera vystoupí Thor Garcia, Holly Tavel, Ken Nash, Louis Armand – zároveň také proběhne křest nové knihy Thora Garcii s názvem TUND z knižní série Litteraria Pragensia. (Večer pouze v angličtině.)]
*Saturday 14 May, 6.00pm, Krásný ztráty
Diskuze / Discussion: “Poetics & Translocality”
*Saturday 14 May, 8.00pm, Krásný ztráty
Reading / Čtení: Carla Harryman, Keston Sutherland, Barrett Watten, Lenka Daňhelová, Alistair Noon [CZ/EN]
*Sunday 15 May, 6.00pm, Krásný ztráty
Křest knihy / Launch event: VLAK 2
Reading / Čtení: Ondřej Buddeus, Jane Lewty, Adam Borzič, Joshua Mensch, Carla Harryman, Stephan Delbos, Jeroen Nieuwland, Kasia Bazarnik, Zenon Fajfer, Megan M. Garr, Michal Šanda, David Vichnar [CZ/EN]
*Monday 16 May, 6.00pm, Krásný ztráty
Reading / Čtení: Donna Stonecipher, Sean Bonney, Aodan McCardle, Stephen Mooney, Ulli Freer, Jan Těsnohlídek [CZ/EN]
Křest knihy / Launch event: Maurice Scully, Gilbert Adair (Veer books).
Hudba / Music: The Turpentine Ray
*Tuesday 17 May, 6.00pm, Krásný ztráty
Reading / Čtení: Sylva Fischerová, Dagmar Pokorná, Megan M. Garr, Martin Skýpala, Jane Lewty [CZ/EN]
Křest knihy / Launch event: Versal 9 (Versal Magazine)
*Wednesday 18 May, 6.00pm, Krásný ztráty
Reading / Čtení: Catherine Hales, Josef Straka, Laura Conway, Louis Armand, Karla Kelsey [CZ/EN]
Křest knihy / Launch event: David Vichnar, Louis Armand, and Stephan Delbos (Litteraria Pragensia Books)
MUSIC by THE TURPENTINE RAY
[CZ/EN] = All events are in both English and Czech / Večery proběhnou současně v angličtině a češtině.
*Free entry / vstup zdarma
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