The most famous Czech literary award, Magnesia Litera, has announced this year’s shortlisted titles for each category. The Host publishing house, which our agency works with very closely, has seven nominations, more than ever before – further confirmation of its truly outstanding position on the domestic book market.
Among the seven finalists is the first original Czech graphic novel published by Host, as well as two books in the crime fiction category. We shall discuss these three books in more detail here.
LITERA FOR BOOKS FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULTS
Kateřina Illnerová: With Love, G. / S láskou V.
“I live in a bubble of people who still send postcards. I wanted to create something positive that would make people want to take care of their relationships,” says the young author, who has already collected a number of awards and nominations for her work.
Magnesia Litera 2026 panel statement:
In this tender-hearted tale of a strong intergenerational bond, the picturesque postcards that the titular V. sends her grandmother from exciting holiday trips are transformed into portals into her adventures. While one of them experiences these adventures first-hand, the other one sets out to discover everything from the comfort of her living-room armchair (accompanied by the indispensable house cat). Both of them duly visit sheep pastures and gardens full of water lilies, frosty mountain peaks and sulphur springs. The poetic story of one of the most promising Czech comics for youngsters was originally written as a university thesis and in 2024 received the Muriel Award for the best student comics. The story flows along in a somnolent atmosphere of summer enchantment, lavishly unstinting in its ideas and jokes, demonstrating on every page an exceptional understanding of the essentials of comic storytelling. This sweet little book with its playful visual stylization provides a great reading experience almost fortuitously.
JABLOTRON LITERA FOR CRIME FICTION
Jiří Klečka: Blackbird / Černý kos
“For me, Blackbird is above all a story about heroism, which does not depend on how much darkness we have experienced, but how much light is still left within us,” says the author of this, his most successful book to date – the rights have been sold to two countries.
Magnesia Litera 2026 panel statement:
This dark tale in two timelines tells the story of a child abductor and two boys who managed to escape from his clutches. However, both carry the trauma of their childhood and each copes with it in their own way. This sophisticated and ingenious crime thriller follows several storylines that eventually intersect. The characters of the victims, their loved ones, the former criminal investigator and the perpetrators are believable and layered, their motives and behaviour understandable. The psychological immersion into the protagonists’ minds is then enhanced by the masterful depiction of the late Normalization period atmosphere in the Ostrava region and in the often no less depressing present. Also in terms of style and language, this is an above-average quality text, the dialogues are lively, and the pace of the narrative does not suffer from verbosity or unnecessary digressions. This highly readable novel will captivate you with its melancholic atmosphere and gradual layering of information, while its strong theme will remain with readers for a long time.
Michal Sýkora: No Good News / Žádné dobré zprávy
“I believe that crime is always to some extent a product of the times and a particular social setting. I do not see crime fiction as just entertainment, in which all the problems are solved along with the identification of the perpetrator, and everything leads to a happy ending. Crime fiction should depict our present and the reasons and motives that lead people to commit crimes,” says the author. Michal Sýkora’s series of books is published in six countries.
Magnesia Litera 2026 panel statement:
In the first round of the presidential election, a person who believes that milk is produced in a cow’s stomach receives almost two million votes. And former police commissioner Marie Výrová realizes that the good news has run out that same day. Even the serial killer who attacks Marie in this sixth volume of stories about detectives from the elite Holy Trinity regional police unit (and also about academics from Olomouc University, where the chief protagonist lectures at the Law Faculty now that she has left the police) is driven by the signs of the times. For these are times filled with trauma and aggression, in which, among other things, men’s power over women is dwindling, which arouses anxiety and anger in some men. Fortunately, Marie has a refugee from Ukraine by her side – a courageous canine by the name of Buča. Olomouc literary scholar Michal Sýkora initially wrote academic studies on the foremost authors of Russian and American literature, as well as on literary, film and television detective stories. He also uses his knowledge of modern literary narrative techniques and the genre schemes employed in crime literature in his highly readable works of fiction, which he has been publishing since 2012. Based on the compelling constellation of investigators from Holy Trinity, he first constructed a masterfully entertaining version of the contemporary Czech police procedural. But his books did not stop there. The author’s latest novel combines various models of contemporary detective fiction, including a dark thriller in which the crime does not stem from the past, but from the political and ideological tensions of the present day.
The Magnesia Litera award results will be announced on 18 April 2026.
25. 3. 2026
