The Czech Republic’s largest literary event, the Prague Writers’ Festival is set to begin on Sunday offering five days of authors’ readings, artistic performances, film screenings and discussions with acclaimed authors from all over the world about topics brought to live on pages of their books. The art of story-telling is the focus of the 19th edition, whose guests, among others, are Syrian poet Adonis, Chinese Literature Nobel Prize winner Gao Xingjian, US author Robert Crumb and American poet Anne Waldman. All events and public reading are simultaneously translated to English.
Today Palác Akropolis is hosting RefuBenefit, a benefit evening organised by Berkat, a civic association, whose aim is to help and support communities and social enterprising in Chechnya, Afghanistan and the Czech Republic while using creativity and traditional cultural skills. A documentary about Afghanistan, Afghánská Šangrila, will open the event at 6pm followed by a concert featuring Armenian singer Alvina Aghajanyan, Mr. Cocoman & The Solid Vibes and United Flavour with Spanish singer Carmen. Throughout the evening you can buy dolls made by Afghanis and taste exotic meals from around the world. The money raised at the event will cover cornea transplants within Berkat’s Adžamal project.
Another benefit is planned for Saturday, this time supported by the Czech singer and violinist Iva Bittová and the New York-based Australian avant-garde pianist Lisa Moor. Following their great success at last year’s Sounds Alive festival in Canberra, the artists will meet again at Holešovice club La Fabrika to play for the third Out of Home festival for children from crèche.
Mestizo is what you get when you mix Cuban salsa, Rumba Catalana, Colombian Cumbia, flamenco, Brazilian bossa, Mexican mariachi and other Latin American music styles. On Sunday, 7 June accordion player Joan Garriga and his La Troba Kung-fu from Barcelona will bring this energetic show to Palác Akropolis.
To mark the World Environment Day on 5 June, many movie theatres around the world will be showing Home, a feature documentary offering unique shots of the Earth. Director and famed aerial photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand shot entirely from the air, over a two-year period and in 54 countries showing how everything on our planet is interconnected and how we should protect it. Prague’s Lucerna and Village Cinemas Anděl will show the film on Friday.
Sustainable living and an environmentally-friendly approach is also a topic of another movie entering Czech cinemas this week. Garbage Warrior alias Michael Reynolds is an architect who has been designing homes from garbage and natural objects for major part of his life. The documentary shows his projects and visions and him battling the US authorities over the permission to make them happen.
Speaking of environment, Prague may not have the best air conditions and the weather here has not been very warm recently. But it doesn’t mean we should only be hidden in clubs and movie theatres. The city is offering various outdoor activities for the next seven days. Above the river on Vyšehrad, the Vyšehraní music festival is underway, featuring music styles from folk and country to jazz, rock and blues. Czech musicians, including Vlasta Redl, Lenka Dusilová, Robert Křesťan and his bluegrass band Druhá tráva, as well as foreign guests, trumpet player Laco Deczi and the Celula New York, will be performing here until 17 June.
Another Prague hill, Žižkov, is the venue of street theatre, circus and puppetry festival Žižkov Sobě, running at different places of the district through the end of the month. Street theatre projects is the focus of Prague-based international art group, Divadlo Continuo. Their performance Finis Terrae, nearby the Viktorka football stadium, is scheduled for Sunday, 9:30pm. Reggae Juggling Open Air with juggling star Lena Köhn from Germany is on the list for Saturday, 6 June. And if you wait little longer, you can hear Belgium’s critically acclaimed brass band L’Orchestre International du Vetex showing their skills on Jiřího z Poděbrad square 22 June.
From Prague hills down to the river. Two islands on the Vltava river, Dětský ostrov and Střelecký ostrov, as well as the area in front of the Svatý Václav church near Anděl, will host a four-day Bambiriáda children’s festival starting Thursday, 4 June.
If none of Prague hills and islands offers the right cup of tea, you can take a trip to history and walk with the royal procession of Charles IV and his wife Eliška from Prague Castle to Karlštejn. The goal of the two-day event, organised by the Karlštejnsko municipality, is to symbolically deposit the coronation jewels at the castle and to enjoy a fun weekend.
