Czech literature has great potential in English-speaking countries. In other words, compared with the literatures of countries such as France, Germany or Poland, it is little known and little published. It achieved its greatest success in the early years of Czechoslovakia, when Karel Čapek’s dramas, not least the dystopian sci-fi R.U.R. (in which the word “robot” was heard for the first time), wowed London theatres. Joseph Heller couldn’t have written Catch-22 if Hašek’s Good Soldier Švejk hadn’t come first. What makes Czech literature unique, and in what respects can it claim to be part of the literary tradition of the region? How do Czech titles fare in English-speaking countries, and what are the pitfalls and pleasures of publishing them? How do a publisher, a translator and an agent see the situation? Stories of success and failure for Czech books on Anglophone markets.

Julia Sherwood, Diven Nagpal, Martin Janeček. Moderation: Jan Musil