Slovakia Today, English Language Current Affairs Programme from Slovak Radio

RERUN: Listeners Tribune

A book presenting interdisciplinary research on social housing in Veľký Krtíš has just been released with a card game for municipalities. In the interview, members of the research team Martina Ruzickova and Jakub Macha explain that Slovak authorities still find segregation a common practice. Culture news bring tips for events suitable for English speakers in Slovakia.

On the show today, we will talk about ICORN, the International Cities of Refuge Network. As of this year, the Slovak capital Bratislava is part of this project, which helps persecuted authors find peace for at least some time. Besides this, since this week we observed both the European day of languages and World tourism day, we will discuss the importance of learning a foreign language and give you tips on what places to visit in Slovakia these days.

Bratislava’s long-running ‘Dobrý trh’ or ‘Good market’ is a regularly held event that occupies a long stretch of city street and brings together small local businesses and community-minded residents for a full day of activities. Last Saturday our correspondent Ben Pascoe was on the scene to talk both with visitors and vendors at the 11-year old event, as well as with its two founders and organisers, Illah van Oijen and Barbora Zavarská.

Best Slovak ice hockey league - Tipos extraliga started its 30th season. Instead of a dam, a protected area is being created in the valley of the Slatina River near Zvolen. Slovak ice hockey legend Zdeno Chára retired from NHL after 25 years.

Stephen Collins, the author of successful book "The Gigantic Beard that was evil", visits RSI to talk about artistic value of graphic novels. Marian Turner, the general director of the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra invites to 57th Bratislava music festival. Restart of the segment mapping the latest developments in the sphere of culture in Slovakia.

Slovak ice-hockey players in the Russian KHL - is it a political controversy or a sports topic? Hockey Slovakia announced that they see no legal problem with Slovak players in Russian KHL playing also for the national team. This decision is highly criticized by Slovak sports media, some of which refuse to report on KHL results.

During the early months of the First World War, Pavol Országh Hviezdoslav, one of Slovakia’s greatest literary figures, wrote a series of short but passionate anti-war poems which eventually became known as the ‘Bloody Sonnets’, but which were impossible to publish as long as the war lasted. Today we replay Jonathan’s interview with John Minahane, whose English translation of the Bloody Sonnets was published in 2018 and later presented to the late Queen Elizabeth II, about this remarkable work by one of Slovakia’s most renowned figures.

Commemorating the visit of the late Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh to Slovakia in 2008. During a visit to Slovakia, Her Majesty unveiled a memorial to the victims who died trying to cross the Slovak-Austrian border during communism at Devín near Bratislava. She even dropped the puck to start an ice-hockey match in Poprad in eastern Slovakia and visited the Tatra Mountains.