Prague Writers' Festival: History

The Festival originated in London at Keats House, where at the end of the seventies, I started international poetry readings through the Helsinki Accords which provided financial support to invite writers from Central and Eastern Europe.

I established poetry festivals and readings at Keats House—publishing and introducing with George Theiner, editor of Index on Censorship, the work of such great poets as Vladimír Holan—before moving the readings to the Arts Theatre and Donmar Warehouse Theatre. From 1983, they became the “Covent Garden Readings”. In February 1989, I brought “Child of Europe” to the National Theatre, presenting poets from eight communist countries, at a decisive moment. The Festival was broadcast on television and radio, and praised in the press. In May 1991, I moved the readings to Prague—to Valdštejn Palace, which was opened for the first time in living memory to the public.

Prague was a natural asylum: isolated—with no literary traditions—but with the potential to inspire through its currency of free speech. Prague was a natural host and meeting place for writers—for the fermentation of their ideas. If “existence is comparison”, we have followed Osip Mandelstam’s dictum for the past seventeen years. With splendid assistance from the City of Prague and The Guardian, we have brought the world to Prague and the Festival to an esteemed place in the cultural life of literature.

The Prague Writers’ Festival is based on philosophical principles that allow for change. The Festival is not contaminated by the old regime—it began completely fresh—and remains so.

Michael March