Radio Prague International - latest articles

At the start of March, Edita Kudláčová will assume one of the most important jobs in her field: Head of Radio and Audio at the European Broadcasting Union, the Geneva-based body that brings together public service stations all around the continent. Kudláčová has hitherto been spearheading innovation at Czech Radio and when we spoke the conversation centred on the state of the medium today, the future of radio and podcasting – and her plans for the exciting new role.

Czech Next Wave with writer Kateřina Tučková about her powerful novel Gerta, freshly published in English,

News, calls for ban on biometric mass surveillance in EU, film archive acquires legacy from Czech film great Ivan Passer, and the art of cultural diplomacy

Earlier this week, a group of EU-watchdogs launched a European Citizens' Initiative calling for a ban on biometric mass surveillance.If the petition manages to gather at least one million signatures from seven EU member states it will force a debate on the topic in the European Parliament and a response from the European Commission. One of the organisers of the initiative is Hynek Trojánek from the Czech NGO luridicum Remedium. I asked what led him to take part in the action.

The National Film Archive announced this week that it has acquired the estate of Ivan Passer, one of the leading lights of cinema’s Czechoslovak New Wave. The archive received boxes stuffed with Passer’s diaries, letters and photographs, alongside annotated film screenplays – and recipes for Czech delicacies such as svíčková.

Can art be used as a tool towards achieving international peace, or is cultural diplomacy just another tool of international propaganda? How has art been used by great powers in the past? And how can the Czech Republic channel its rich cultural heritage to improve its image abroad? These are some of the questions being tackled in the new podcast Jazzman versus špioni (Jazzman versus Spies) created by the Czech Centres abroad and the Institute of International Studies at Charles University.

Government faces huge dilemma over pandemic, Benny Cristo's new Eurovision song, the man who has walked 2,000 km all along the Czech Republic’s borders

The Czech pop idol finalist Benny Cristo is representing the Czech Republic at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest - again. The 2020 international competition, like most events that normally draw huge audiences, was cancelled due to the coronavirus crisis. That delay gave Cristo literal pause to write a new song for the contest about love in the age of Covid-19.

The coronavirus epidemic in the Czech Republic has severely worsened. The more contagious British mutation of the virus is spreading like wildfire in some regions and hospitals are dangerously near their capacity limit. At the height of the crisis the government faces a huge dilemma - whether to reopen shops and send children back to school as promised.

Kateřina Tučková is one of the most successful young Czech novelists. Her powerful novel Gerta – focused on the cruel treatment of ethnic Germans in the immediate aftermath of the war – has just been published in English. Another of her works based on extensive historical research is The Žítková Goddesses, a best-selling novel about a group of female healers in the White Carpathians.