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Prague Talk brings together the best of Radio Prague International’s interviews as a regularly updated podcast, delivered as a download to your device or available via streaming services. Twitter: @PragueTalk Email: praguetalkpod@gmail.com

Radio Prague International


    • May 28, 2025 LATEST EPISODE
    • weekly NEW EPISODES
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    • 139 EPISODES


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    Latest episodes from Prague Talk

    Tomáš Páleníček: There's a continuum of experimental psychedelic use in Czechia

    Play Episode Listen Later May 28, 2025 22:33


    Dr. Tomáš Páleníček is a leading Czech proponent of the use of psychedelics in certain kinds of psychiatric treatment. The psychiatrist and several colleagues recently appeared in a documentary named Doctor on a Trip that followed them to the Amazon rainforest, where they mapped brain activity during ceremonies centred on ayahuasca, a traditional hallucinogenic drink. I spoke to Páleníček at our Prague studios.

    Jiří Pehe on Havel, Zeman – and a dramatic escape to the West

    Play Episode Listen Later May 21, 2025 31:36


    Jiří Pehe is one of Czechia's best-known political scientists, regularly sharing his insights with domestic and international media. But his own story is also noteworthy. After a dramatic 1981 escape to the West, he made a new life in the US. Following the fall of communism he returned to his native country and became a close advisor to President Václav Havel. Pehe then became director of New York University Prague, a position he is about to retire from after more than a quarter of a century.

    “Movie stars were greeted by a real movie star”: Steven Gaydos remembers Jiří Bartoška

    Play Episode Listen Later May 13, 2025 18:04


    Among the many warm tributes to Jiří Bartoška, who passed away last week at 78, has been one published by Variety from journalist Steven Gaydos. The Czech actor took the reins at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 1994 and that was also the first edition for Gaydos, who subsequently watched Bartoška and his team turn a moribund event into the vibrant, internationally renowned celebration of cinema it is today.

    Martina Skála on working with Forman and Polanski – and dancing with horses

    Play Episode Listen Later May 6, 2025 22:43


    Writer and artist Martina Skála grew up in Prague's picturesque Malá Strana district before leaving for France in the mid-1980s and eventually settling in California. Skála, who studied history and set design, has also had an unusually broad range of jobs, from acting as an advisor to the female leads on The Unbearable Lightness of Being to literally dancing with horses.

    Antonín Kokeš: We saw great bakeries in Germany and France – I said, Why don't we have it here?

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 29, 2025 23:42


    Antonín Kokeš is the man behind Antonínovo pekařství, a successful chain of bakeries. The Moravian-born entrepreneur is also the owner of Albi, a company best-known for the board games that can be found in many Czech homes. We discussed both those businesses and much more at Kokeš's latest venture, a new branch of Antonín's Bakery due to open on May 1 in a grand building on Prague's Náměstí Míru.

    Helena Lukas on photographer dad Jan: "He said, I want you to live in a free world"

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 22, 2025 24:06


    Helena Lukas, daughter of the major Czech photographer Jan Lukas, escaped to the West with her family in the mid-1960s. In New York the Lukases were part of a Czech cultural elite in exile that included such names as Jiří Voskovec, Ferdinand Peroutka and Alexander Hackenschmied. Helena Lukas is currently in Czechia preparing an exhibition of her father's work that will open in the town of Dobrovice next weekend.

    “It was year zero”: Miloš Hroch maps ‘90s Czech shoegaze scene in new book

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 15, 2025 21:28


    Perhaps the only time Czech rock bands have made a significant splash internationally was in the early 1990s, when groups like the Ecstasy of St. Theresa were covered in the UK music press. EOST, who made the independent charts in England, were the vanguard of a local iteration of the shoegaze genre then in vogue in London. And that scene is the subject of the new book Šeptej nahlas: Český shoegaze mezi Východem a Západem (Whisper Aloud: Czech Shoegaze Between the East and the West) by music journalist and academic Miloš Hroch. I spoke to the author at our Prague studios.

    Jeffrey Martin on mapping Prague's streets in 1.3 million photos

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 11, 2025 20:50


    Jeffrey Martin, a pioneer in the field of 360-degree photography, has been living in Prague for a quarter of a century. Recently his company Mosaic launched a 15-terapixel open-source data set of high resolution street view imagery of the city. How is this incredibly detailed mapping carried out? And who are the many users already accessing the resource, which is free for non-commercial use? I spoke to Martin, who is from the US, in a small park near his office in the Smíchov district.

    Martin Dušek maps anarchic Czech approach to construction in new film

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 31, 2025 20:07


    Director Martin Dušek's latest documentary looks at the issue of taste, primarily when it comes to how Czechs handle home construction/renovation and the urban landscape. A DIY approach is deeply ingrained and many refuse to hire architects, regarding their services – says a speaker in the film – as something “extra”. I caught up with Dušek shortly after producer Czech Television broadcast the film, which is called Journey to Disfantasy.

    Guy Roberts: Czechia felt truly free in way I hadn't experienced in US

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 18, 2025 26:43


    US-born Guy Roberts founded and heads the Prague Shakespeare Company. He can also currently be seen on TV screens around the world acting in the fantasy series The Wheel of Time, whose third season has just kicked off. Our conversation also takes in Roberts' Czech roots, expertise as a fight coordinator, involvement in a big-budget Jan Žižka biopic and lots more.

    Jerina Sykora: My motive for fleeing Venezuela was same as my grandmother's for leaving Czechoslovakia

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 11, 2025 17:53


    Venezuelan-born Jerina Sykora was named after her Czech grandmother Jiřina, who fled to the South American state in the wake of the 1948 Communist takeover of Czechoslovakia. Jerina herself fled in the other direction; among millions of people who have quit Venezuela due to its political turmoil, she and her family have resettled in Czechia under a government repatriation scheme. Their gripping story is the focus of Volver a Volver, a documentary that will get its premiere at the One World festival in Prague next week.

    Ondřej Pilný: I'm planning to learn Irish properly the third time around

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 4, 2025 23:32


    Ondřej Pilný is a professor of English and American literatures at Prague's Charles University, where he also heads the Centre for Irish Studies. As he explains in our interview, his career path was greatly shaped by a series of coincidences that led him to Dublin in his student days. Pilný also discusses literary links between Czechia and Ireland – and says low pay prevents him and his colleagues from doing valuable work in their field.

    “It's a knock-out view”: Brit Guy Barker on bringing new terrace to Rudolfinum roof

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 25, 2025 18:35


    UK businessman Guy Barker is behind a project set to bring a new terrace to the roof of Prague's 19th century Rudolfinum. His Arcona Capital, a real estate investment company active in a number of EU countries, is a sponsor of the Czech Philharmonic, which calls the magnificent building home. When we met at Arcona Capital's offices, Mr. Barker also discussed a notable development it is involved with in Kyiv – and what led him to move to Prague.

    "My fear is we now bet on EU for security": Jan Kofroň on where new US stance leaves Czechs

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 18, 2025 19:26


    Many European leaders have been aghast at American moves to unilaterally agree a Ukraine “peace deal” with Russia and their concerns have only been intensified by an explosive speech by the US vice-president that some say signals a sundering of the transatlantic alliance. What does the Trump administration's approach mean for Czech defence policy? And how likely is conscription to return? I discussed those questions, and more, with Jan Kofroň of the Institute of Political Studies at Charles University's Faculty of Social Sciences.

    Really doing your share at home? Martina Dvořáková's audit helps couples find out

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 12, 2025 17:06


    Martina Dvořáková was so tired of the gender imbalance in household labour in Czechia that she did something about it, creating a Fair Household audit. It's a questionnaire that helps couples reflect on who does what in the home – and whether that division of work is truly equitable. I discussed several aspects of the project with Dvořáková, as well as why the term “feminist” continues to be frowned up in this country.

    Petr Brod: It could be dangerous to speak German in 1950s Czechoslovakia

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 5, 2025 28:08


    Petr Brod grew up in a German-speaking Jewish family in communist Prague, soon learning it was wiser to converse in Czech in public. Brod fulfilled his ambition of becoming a journalist following a move to West Germany in his late teens, and found considerable success; after a stint at the BBC that saw him work on some of its top political shows, he joined Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which posted him to his hometown when the Velvet Revolution ushered in democracy in Czechoslovakia. When we spoke Brod, today 73, also discussed his friendship with protest singer Karel Kryl – and what might have happened if the Sudeten Germans had not been expelled after the war.

    Jewish Museum head Pavla Niklová: When Oct. 7 happened we realised we live in an open society

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 22, 2025 18:53


    Pavla Niklová has been the director of the Jewish Museum in Prague, one of the oldest institutions of its kind in the world, for around a year and a half. When we spoke at her office on the edge of the city's Jewish Quarter, the conversation took in everything from Niklová's own background to whether the museum has been much impacted by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

    Miroslav Wanek on how Už jsme doma reached US audiences like no other Czech band

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 14, 2025 28:38


    Miroslav Wanek is the leader of Už jsme doma, a Czech alternative band who this year are celebrating 40 years of existence. Už jsme doma have performed in over three dozen countries, most notably in the US, where they have notched up a remarkable 800-plus shows. Wanek, today 62, also has other strings to his bow. He could have entered politics after playing an active role in the Velvet Revolution in his hometown of Teplice, has taught at Prague's FAMU film school and worked on a highly popular animated series.

    Pavel Fuksa: Very centre of Prague is visually appalling, a Wild West

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 7, 2025 18:33


    If you've been to Prague in recent years, chances are high that you've encountered the work of Pavel Fuksa. The graphic designer is behind a series of official posters welcoming visitors to the city – and encouraging them to be on good behaviour. Fuksa, who is 42, has in the past worked for several of the world's largest brands, including Nike, Facebook and Lego. What's more, he is deeply interested in football, so when we met in the downtown area I also spoke with him about which Prague club has had the most visually impressive strip, and when.

    Diving into Waves: Jiří Mádl on massive hit "1968" film

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 1, 2025 23:51


    Waves by Jiří Mádl wasn't only the most successful Czech film at the box office in 2024: the movie, which centres on events at Czechoslovak Radio at the time of the Soviet invasion, is also one of the biggest cinema hits the country has seen in the modern era. Now Waves is also aiming for international glory, having made the shortlist of 15 pictures in contention for the Best International Oscar, with the actual nominations set to be announced in mid-January. Just after the shortlist was announced, I spoke with writer-director Mádl, who first found fame as an actor and had made two previous films before coming out with a gripping story set in one of the most tumultuous moments of Czechia's modern history.

    Biochemist Jan Konvalinka: I hate us being called a “very good East European institute”

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 23, 2024 24:26


    Regular media appearances made biochemist Jan Konvalinka a well-known figure in Czechia during the Covid crisis, a period he calls the pinnacle of his professional life. A one-time vice rector at Prague's Charles University, he is today director of the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry at the Czech Academy of Sciences – and spearheaded its establishment of an outpost in Boston this year. Just last week Professor Konvalinka announced that his IOCB, in conjunction with others, was waiving licensing fees for HIV drugs for relatively poor countries.

    Watching the Jackals: Daniela Richterová on revolutionaries and terrorists in pre-‘89 Prague

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 17, 2024 27:17


    A new book reveals the untold story of Czechoslovakia's complex relations with terrorists and revolutionaries from the Middle East and elsewhere in the Cold War period. Watching the Jackals by historian Daniela Richterová draws on intelligence files to show how major figures such as Carlos the Jackal, Che Guevara and a mastermind of the 1972 Munich Olympic massacre visited Prague, often repeatedly, in the latter decades of the communist era. It also explores Czechoslovakia's own attitude to international terrorism. I discussed her groundbreaking findings with Richterová, who is based at King's College London.

    Jitka Pánek Jurková: Czechia's cultural credit is really strong – we just need to be smart about it

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 11, 2024 19:58


    More than two dozen Czech Centres on four continents represent a shop window for Czech culture around the world. But what more can the country do to boost its international image? And how does the network decide where to open, or close, branches? I discussed those questions, and way more, with the director of the Czech Centres, Jitka Pánek Jurková, who took up the post a year ago this month, at the organisation's headquarters on Prague's Wenceslas Square.

    Pavel Klusák on Suchý, Šlitr and the explosion that was Semafor

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 2, 2024 22:11


    Prague's Semafor theatre was the most significant arts institution in 1960s Czechoslovakia, ushering in a new era against the backdrop of a slow political thaw in the communist country. Semafor was centred on the song-writing duo of Jiří Suchý and Jiří Šlitr and gave starts to a whole generation of enormous and enduring pop stars. Top Czech music writer Pavel Klusák explores the theatre's great decade in his brand new book Suchý and Šlitr: Semafor 1959–1969 – and shared his insights at our studios in Vinohrady.  

    Tom Gross: I delivered Western jeans to Václav Havel pre-1989

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 27, 2024 21:47


    Tom Gross campaigned for Roma rights and was active in the media in early 1990s Prague. However, the Englishman had had some remarkable experiences in the city even before joining the influx of young westerners to Czechoslovakia's new democracy. These included covert deliveries to leading dissidents in the communist period – and inadvertently being in close proximity to some of the world's most notorious terrorists. Gross shared his stories at our studios in Vinohrady.  

    Osamu Okamura: Most quality architecture is now happening outside Prague

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 23, 2024 27:24


    Osamu Okamura was born in Tokyo to Japanese-Czech parents but moved to Prague while still an infant. An architect by profession, he is involved in a wide slew of activities, from academic work to popularising the concept of liveable cities among the general public. His family name is well-known in Czechia largely thanks to his brother Tomio Okamura, who heads a leading anti-EU political party, while a second sibling, Hayato Okamura, is also an MP.

    Igor Pomerantsev: The BBC, and Daniel Defoe, helped me understand democracy

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 20, 2024 23:46


    The poet and veteran broadcaster Igor Pomerantsev has been living in Prague since the mid-1990s, when his station, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, moved to the Czech capital. Born in Russia but raised in Ukraine, Pomerantsev left the Soviet Union at the end of his 20s after being accused of circulating “anti-Soviet literature”. He and his family later settled in London, where he worked for the Russian section of the BBC World Service. I spoke to Igor Pomerantsev, who is today 76, at our studios in Vinohrady.

    Adam Stewart: Many Czechs don't believe Cimrman plays could possibly work in English

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 11, 2024 17:13


    Englishman Adam Stewart is the founder and artistic director of the Prague Youth Theatre, a thriving company bring together around 200 children and teenagers from dozens of different nations in the Czech capital. He is also a leading member of the Cimrman English Theatre; it performs plays “by” the much-loved Czech comedic character Jára Cimrman to English-speaking audiences and recently celebrated 10 years of existence. I spoke to Stewart at the PYT's offices in the Vršovice district. 

    Success, home, friendship focus of Marie Dvořáková's new Marie Tomanová documentary

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 5, 2024 22:43


    New documentary World Between Us follows Czech photographer Marie Tomanová as her career skyrockets in New York. The intimate film is also a portrait of Tomanová's art historian husband, Thomas Beachdel – and reflects the close friendship between the photographer and its director, fellow Czech Marie Dvořáková. I caught up with Dvořáková, a one-time Student Oscar winner who has also spent a large part of her life in the US, days after the documentary's world premiere.

    Anne Marie Kenny: From singing at Havel's invitation to business in ‘90s Prague

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 28, 2024 20:29


    US singer Anne Marie Kenny first came to Czechoslovakia in 1990 at the invitation of President Václav Havel, who facilitated a concert for her at a Prague club. She later launched a successful employment and training agency and remained in her ancestral homeland for the rest of the decade. Kenny shares these stories and much more in her memoir A Song for Bohemia, which has just been launched in Czech under the title Moje píseň pro Čechy. We spoke at the café at Prague's House of the Black Madonna.

    Jan P. Muchow: During EOST hiatus I'd always meet bandmate Winterová on school run

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 22, 2024 17:02


    This year the Ecstasy of St. Theresa, perhaps the best-known Czech indie band of the 1990s and 2000s, delighted fans by returning to the stage after a hiatus of almost a decade. And the group, whose core members are founder Jan P. Muchow and singer and actress Kateřina Winterová, are also planning to release new music, the former says in an interview conducted at his Prague studio. Muchow also discusses his work as an in-demand film music composer and producer – and recording at the Berlin studio where David Bowie created some of his greatest work.   

    Petr Sís: My Amadeus poster was incredible calling card in US

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 15, 2024 21:57


    The Czech-born, US-based illustrator and writer Petr Sís has just seen the publication of his latest work, a book of In Praise of Mystery by American poet laureate Ada Limon. In a project years in the making, the poem has also been etched onto a NASA spaceship bound for Jupiter's moon Europa. In an interview from his home in New York State, Sís discussed the new book as well as his poster for the multiple Oscar-winning movie Amadeus, released four decades ago this year. He also shared some insights into his latest project, which takes inspiration from his own colourful experiences in the US around the same time.

    “No other spirit has so much mystery”: Evan Rail on absinthe's Czech links and more

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 7, 2024 17:54


    Evan Rail's The Absinthe Forger is a true crime story that also explores the fascinating history of the spirit itself. Central to the new book is the absinthe produced before the “evil drink” was banned virtually everywhere in the early 20th century – only to make a comeback in the 1990s, a revival in which Czechia played a major part. Rail, a long-time resident of Prague, discussed that aspect of the story, and much more, at our studios in Vinohrady.

    Moving forward, step by step: Marek Hovorka on 28 years of Ji.hlava

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 2, 2024 15:53


    As director of the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival, Marek Hovorka is one of the most important people in the field of documentaries in Czechia. The 44-year-old started the event while still at school and today it draws many thousands of film buffs to the usually sleepy Vysočina town every year. Ahead of the 28th edition of Ji.hlava I caught up with Hovorka to discuss the festival's development, changes this year – and the outlook for the future.

    Writer Jana Prikryl on how her parents' escape from Czechoslovakia shaped her life – and language

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 24, 2024 18:14


    Jana Prikryl was five, and called Jana Přikrylová, when her parents fled communist Czechoslovakia in the early 1980s and built a new life in the West. She has since gone on to become a successful poet and a top editor at the highly respected New York Review of Books. But how much did initially speaking Czech shape the writer's approach to language? I discussed that question and many more with Prikryl, who was speaking from her home in New York.

    Euan Edworthy: My RAF father said, Don't forget those brave Czech airmen who fought in WWII

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 16, 2024 14:14


    UK public relations man Euan Edworthy has called Prague home for the last three decades. In that time he has been involved in a number of initiatives, perhaps most notably building a monument to Czechoslovak WWII RAF aviators in the city's Klárov district, that have earned him UK honour the MBE for services to Czech-British relations. We spoke at the offices of his company Best Communications, right in the heart of the Old Town.

    Milan Babík: Heading Havel Library after 30 years in US

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 9, 2024 17:01


    When Milan Babík was appointed director of the Václav Havel Library recently his name was not familiar to many. That is in large part because he had spent the previous three decades in the United States, where he effectively emigrated as a teenager, in search of educational opportunity. When I spoke to Mr. Babík at the Library, a stone's throw from Prague's Národní, we discussed the institution's mission and perceptions of Václav Havel today. But our conversation began with his own early life.

    Czech Please: You can eat as well in Prague as in major world cities

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 30, 2024 14:02


    The anonymous writer behind the Czech Please social media accounts has been reviewing restaurants in Prague for over a decade and a half. Also going by the pen name Brewsta, Czech Please has built up a large and dedicated following as one of Czechia's best-known English-language food bloggers. When we met at a cool Prague café, we discussed the city's dining scene at length – but I first asked Czech Please a little about himself.

    Veronika Tuckerová: Dissidents like Havel felt their prison experiences were scripted by Kafka

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 25, 2024 15:26


    Veronika Tuckerová has been teaching Czech Studies at Harvard University for the past decade. But she has also done extensive research into the Prague German-language author Franz Kafka. Indeed, the academic is currently preparing a book entitled Reading Kafka in Prague: The Reception of Franz Kafka in Czechoslovakia, which mainly looks at changing perceptions of the writer in the communist period, when his works were for the most part banned. I spoke to Veronika Tuckerová at our Prague studios.

    EP100: Mason Parker

    Play Episode Listen Later May 1, 2024 15:41


    The new owner of the Prague Lions discusses why he feels the time is right for American football in Europe and says it could become Czechia's third favourite sport.

    EP99: Nicholas Lowry

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 24, 2024 16:50


    Art expert Nicholas Lowry has Czech heritage and lived in Prague in the early 1990s. He will soon be seen as the presenter of a documentary on classic Czech graphic design.

    EP98: Rosamund Johnston

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 5, 2024 15:57


    Rosamund Johnston discusses her book on Czechoslovak Radio, 1948–1969. How "communist" was the station? And what happened to staff after the Soviet invasion?

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