Literary Critics Award ceremony

After six public debates in various Czech cities, the first year of the Literary Critics' Prize is approaching its finale - the announcement of the best prose and poetry book for 2024.

Three prose debuts have been nominated in the prose category: Letnice by Miroslav Hlaucčo. Narušení děje by Emma Kausc and Lover/Fighter by Kristina Hamplová. In poetry, the jury has nominated three collections: Lenka Chýle's  Raná/ Deník pastýřky, Iryna Zahladko's Jak se líčit v nemoci, and Yvette Shanfeld's Výstava posedlostí. Who will receive the prize money and a painting by Krištof Kintera during the ceremony, which will be enriched by poetic performances by Ondřej Macl and musician Marek Doubrava. Moderated by Petr Vizina.

The Literary Criticism Prize was founded in June 2024 by the association of literary magazines A2, Host, Souvislosti, the review Prostor and Tvar. It is awarded once a year and, in addition to the award itself, takes the form of public debates in selected university towns throughout the year. The prize is awarded in two categories, poetry and prose. These have their own, separate juries, whose members follow the production in the respective category during the year, participate in the aforementioned debates and write literary critical texts. The winners are decided by broader panels of critics, again two, a poetry panel and a prose panel. Their members are critics who regularly reflect on original fiction in any Czech media. The purpose of the prize is to encourage critical thinking about literature and to bring it into the public arena through debate.

The co-organiser of the ceremony and partner of CLK is the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art; other supporters include the Moravian Library, the Premedis Foundation, Broumovské diskuse, Hana Michalíková and Krištof Kintera.