About the agency
In brief:
The agency specializes in contemporary Czech fiction; its charge is the promotion of high-quality Czech writing for publication abroad. We represent over twenty Czech writers, all of whom are established names on the domestic literary scene. They include authors of best-selling works as well as holders of prestigious literary awards. The majority of the books shown on these pages have already been published abroad.
In greater detail:
The range of writers we represent is very broad - from Michal Viewegh, today's top-selling Czech writer, whose books have been translated into twenty-two languages, to certain younger authors whose success in an international arena is still in the future (new acquisitions include for example David Zábranský and Jakuba Katalpa). First and foremost these pages seek to address publishers in other countries, offering an excellent opportunity to find precisely the author a publishing scheme might need. We should add that some authors have our representation for all their works, others only for those we expect to be well received abroad. Most of the books shown here are works of prose for adult readers; collections of poetry and books for children feature only exceptionally.
We have close ties with numerous publishers and Czech scholars abroad, and we take part regularly in leading book fairs, such as those in Frankfurt, London and Prague. Our ties are also very close with the publishers of works in the Czech original, the Ministry of Culture, BookWorld Prague and other institutions whose work is crucial for the success of good Czech books abroad.
The agency serves as mediator in the translation and publishing of Czech books abroad.
Our pages contain all the most important information on our authors and books together with sizeable sample extracts in English translation. We have available a complete English translation of some of our books and supplementary materials in a number of languages; we are happy to provide these on request.
A potted history:
Dana Blatná is a graduate of the Faculty of Arts of Masaryk University, Brno. Between 2001 and 2005 she worked as foreign rights manager and editor of the web pages of the prestigious Petrov publishing house, which was widely seen as producing the best of contemporary Czech prose, essays and poetry.
The agency came into being on 1 January 2006. Its first year was marked by continued cooperation with Martin Pluháček-Reiner and authors who had previously been published by Petrov; to the latter were added writers from Host publishers, a house with a similar reputation for excellence. The circle of authors we represent continues to show a slight expansion.
These web pages were launched in mid-2006; a full version in Czech is in preparation.