First Congress of Writers

A Congress of Writers was held in Prague on 4th - 5th June. The first congress of its kind in the post-communist era, it was thus named by the organizers, the Association of Writers, who also assigned the striking motto ‘Rewriting the Present’. The extensive programme held over two days included in particular individual speaker monologues in which writers, literary scholars, philosophers, critics and poets had the chance to present their own impressions of the contemporary literary world. Who and what are the influences on a contemporary literary work and its creator? The readers? The habits and demands of social networks? The publishers? The degree of commitment and political demand? The issues arising in connection with this issue are countless ... only a few contributions, however, dealt with specific answers. ‘Rewriting the present’, therefore, is still to come... perhaps next time? (Let's keep our fingers crossed that writers and poets can just be themselves :) )